University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


Belden. 


BELDEN,  THE  WHITE  CHIEF; 

OK, 

TWELYE  TEAES 


AMONG  THE 


WILD  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS. 


FROM  THE  DIARIES  AND  MANUSCRIPTS 


GEORGE  P.  BELDEN, 

The  Adventurous  White  Chief,  Soldier,  Hunter,  Trapper,  and  Guide. 


EDITED  BY 

GEN.  JAMES  S.  BRISBIN,  U.S.A. 


CINCINNATI    AND    NEW    YOKE: 
O.    F.    VENT. 

CHICAGO-  J.  S.  GOODMAN  &  CO.         PHILADELPHIA:  A.  H.  HUBBARD 

ST.  LOUIS :  P.  A.  HUTCHINSON  &  CO. 
SAN  FRANCISCO:  A.  L.  BANCROFT  &  CO. 

1870. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1870, 

BY  C.  F.  VENT, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 

STEREOTYPED  AT  THE  FEANKLIN   TYPE  F0UNDBY,  CINCINNATI,  OHIO. 


£T? 


PUBLISHERS'   PREFACE. 


rTlHE  attention  of  the  Publishers  was  called  to  the  BELDEN  papers 
something  over  a  year  ago,  since  which  time  a  few  of  them  have 
been  published  in  the  New  York  Tribune  and  the  Chicago  Tribune,  and 
in  the  Cincinnati  Gazette.  The  papers  thus  published,  although  the 
less  important  and  interesting  of  the  collection,  excited  a  great  deal  of 
interest,  and  were  read  with  a  great  deal  of  satisfaction  by  thousands. 
In  fact,  so  great  was  the  satisfaction,  that  the  whole  series  was  eagerly 
sought  for  publication  in  serial  form  before  its  issuance  in  book  form ; 
but  we  are  happy  to  state  that  we  secured  the  entire  series,  and  herein 
present  it  to  the  public,  fresh  and  unhackneyed. 

The  illustrations  are  from  original  designs,  many  of  them  made  in 
outline  by  Mr.  BELDEN  himself,  and  others  by  Mr.  INNMAN,  formerly 
of  New  York,  but  now  of  the  Kegular  Army.  They  were  all  engraved 
by  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Illustration,  and  we  can  not  speak  too 
warmly  of  the  promptness  and  fidelity  with  which  their  engagement 

was  fulfilled.    The  Duality  of  their  work  speaks  for  itself. 

(iii) 


V  KAKfclJ  *n  -KT 


IV 


It  will  be  observed  that  nearly  every  chapter  is  complete  in  itself,  each 
presenting  a  different  phase  of  Indian  or  frontier  life  and  character,  but 
all  so  systematized  and  arranged  as  to  form  a  connected  and  com 
plete  whole. 

THE  PUBLISHEES. 
CINCINNATI,  September,  1870. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I.— Difficulties  in  Writing  a  Book— My  Early  Home— Run  Away— 
Arrive  at  Brownsville,  Nebraska — On  the  Banks  of  the  Missouri — First 
Impressions  of  the  West — Early  Settlers — My  Father  Moves  Out  West — 
Starts  the  "  Nemaha  Valley  Journal  "—Growth  of  the  West— Thirst  for 
Adventure — Run  Away  from  Home  a  Second  Time — Regrets  at  Leaving — 
The  Pony— Out  in  the  Open  Air— Under  the  Starlight— A  Last  Look  at 
Home — Off  for  the  Plains. 

CHAPTER  II.— Nebraska  City— Omaha— Council  Bluffs— Laying  in  Supplies — 
A  Surprise — Off  Again — Lost  on  the  Prairies — An  Alarm — The  Hunter's 
Cabin — Indian  News — A  Frontier  Supper — The  Peace  Pipe — Singular  Be 
havior  of  my  Host — The  Red  Devils  at  Work — A  New  Arrival — Generosity 
Extraordinary — Sioux  City — La  Frombe — Joining  the  Indians — Adopted 
into  the  Tribe — An  Indian  Sweetheart — Married  by  Order — Settling  Down  to 
be  a  Warrior. 

CHAPTER  III.— Life  Among  the  Indians— My  Little  Wife  Washtella— The 
Medicine  Lodge — A  Curious  Custom — Medicine  Arrows— What  the  Indians 
Eat— A  Family  Man— Pleasant  Evenings— Washtella's  Tales— The  Ancient 
Yanktons — Indian  Amusements — The  Ball  Game — How  it  is  Played — A 
Spirited  Contest — Preparing  for  the  Fall  Hunt — How  the  Indians  Travel. 

CHAPTER  IV.— Off  for  the  Fall  Hunt— Washtella  and  the  Pony— Indian 
Songs — Camping  Out — A  Stroll  in  the  Wild  Woods — Sunset  on  the  Prairies — 
Washtella  and  I— An  Indian  Fairy  Tale— The  Giants  of  Old— Wearer  of  the 
White  Feather— What  Chacopee  Saw  in  the  Woods— The  Wooden  Man — 
Battle  of  the  Giants— Chacopee's  Troubles— All's  Well  that  Ends  Well- 
Indian  Credulity — At  the  Hunting  Grounds. 

CHAPTER  V.— The  Beautiful  Lake— Killing  the  First  Buffalo  on  the  Hunt- 
Unexpected  Honors — The  Great  Hunt — How  the  Indians  Take  Buffalo — 
Jerking  the  Meat — Packing  away  Winter  Supplies — Moving  Camp — Killing 
Buffalo  Calves — Other  Modes  of  Capturing  Buffalo — The  Hunt  Ended — The 
Buffalo  Feast  and  Dance — Return  Homeward — At  Peace  with  all  the  World. 

CHAPTER  VI.— Indian  Doctors— Their  Ignorance  and  Vanity— Patent  Medi 
cines — Indian  Girl  Bitten  by  a  Rattlesnake — The  Savage  Mode  of  Treat 
ment—An  Old  Indian  Physician— A  Veritable  Ass— How  the  Girl  was 
Cured — Wonder  of  the  Savages — The  Council  and  Explanation — Modesty  of 
the  Indian  Doctor — Practicing  Medicine  among  the  Savages — A  Bore — I  Give 
Up  the  Doctoring  Business. 

CHAPTER  VII.— Indian  Horse  Races  — The  Santeer  Get  Beaten  —  Another 
Expedition  against  the  Pawnees — Crossing  the  Missouri — Waiting  for  the 
Santees— The  March— The  Attack— Woo-Hoo-Yah-Hoo— A  Disaster— The 
Retreat— A  Battle— The  War-Chief  Wounded— A  Terrible  Contest — Defeated 
Again — The  Return  Homeward — Parting  With  the  Santees — Mourning  for 
the  Dead. 

CHAPTER  VIII.— Conduct  of  Galles-Sca  — In  Trouble— A  Fight  with  an 
Indian — New  Expedition  against  the  Pawnees — Its  Fate — Determines  to 
Take  a  Journey— The  Departure — On  the  March— Beautiful  Sceiier}— An 


6  CONTEXTS. 


Indian  Burying-Ground — Talk  with  Washtella  about  the  Dead — Scene  in  the 
Grave-Yard — Curious  Indian  Customs — How  They  Bury  Their  Dead — Super 
stitions — A  Night  Camp — The  Journey  Continued — Far  Up  the  Missouri — 
In  the  Santee  Lands — How  We  Cooked  and  Ate. 

CHAPTER  IX.— An  Indian  Village— Mirages  on  the  Prairies— Their  Fatal 
Deceptions — The  Encampment — A  Surprise — A  Strange  and  Beautiful  Pic- 
ture^The  Warning  and  Welcome — Locating  a  Town  Lot — The  Santees — 
Curiosity  of  the  Women — Resemblance  between  White  and  Red  Women — 
A  Noble  People — The  Missionary — Pleasant  Interview — How  the  Indians 
Build  their  Homes— My  New  Residence. 

CHAPTER  X.— Indian  Arrows— How  they  are  Made— Cutting  the  Shafts— Dry 
ing  and  Smoking  them — Why  they  are  Wrapped  in  Rawhide — Peeling  the 
Shafts— Making  the  Notch— Why  the  Shaft  is  Fluted— The  Arrow-Head— 
Fastening  it — Putting  on  the  Feather — Price  of  Arrow-Heads — Where  they 
are  Made — Immense  Profits  of  the  Traders — Prices  of  Arrows — The  Indians 
Bad  Financiers — Indian  Paints — Where  they  are  Manufactured — A  Curious 
but  Profitable  Business — War  Arrows — A  Deadly  Shaft — The  Terrible  Poi 
soned  Arrow — How  it  is  Poisoned — Disuse  of  the  Poisoned  Arrow — The  Reason 
Why — Signal  Arrows — How  they  are  Made — Their  Meaning — Indian  Cun 
ning. 

CHAPTER  XI. — The  Bow — Its  Antiquity — Indian  Boys  Learning  to  Shoot — 
Power  of  the  Bow— The  Sioux  Bow— How  it  is  Made— Why  it  is  Carried  Un 
strung — Wood  for  Bows — Their  Value — Difficulty  of  Drawing  them — Shooting 
Buffalo  with  Bows  and  Arrows — Strengthening  the  Bow  with  Sinew — The 
Bow-String — Crow  and  Cheyenne  Bows — The  Elk  Horn  Bow — How  it  is 
Made— The  Value  of  an  Elk  Bow — Quivers — How  they  are  Made  and  Car 
ried—Names  of  Indians— The  Sioux  Chief  Spotted  Tail— How  to  Shoot  with 
the  Bow — Striking  with  the  Bow — Indian  Insults  and  Honor. 

CHAPTER  XII. — Indian  Manufactures — The  Bone,  Stone,  and  Flint  Ax — How 
they  are  Made — Indian  Hammers,  Mallets,  Hatchets,  and  Hoes — Rasps  and 
Files — How  they  are  Made,  and  what  Used  for — War-Clubs,  Spears,  and  Jave 
lins — Indian  Riding-Whips — Curious  Manner  of  Making  them — The  Indian 
Knife— A  Remarkable  Trade  Enterprise— The  Crow  Comb— "  Necessity  the 
Mother  of  Invention  "  Illustrated. 

CHAPTER  XIII. — Buffalo  Robes — Fleshing,  Tanning,  and  Drying  them — Trade 
Robes— Their  Value— The  Body  Robe— The  Fur  Trade— How  it  is  Con 
ducted — Its  Profits — Indian  Prices  of  Furs — Sending  them  to  Market — Their 
Value  at  St.  Louis— Articles  of  Trade— What  Indians  Buy— A  New  Cur 
rency — Labor  of  Preparing  Furs — How  Much  a  Squaw  Gets  for  a  Full  Day's 
Work— Furs  the  Cheapest  Goods  in  the  World. 

CHAPTER  XIV.— Pipes  and  Tobacco— Where  did  Man  Learn  to  Smoke?— The 
Tobacco  Plant — Where  the  English  Found  it — Old  Indian  Pipes — How  and 
of  What  they  are  Made — The  Way  an  Indian  Smokes — Ceremonies  in 
Smoking— The  Tomahawk  Pipe— Its  Use— The  Phil.  Kearney  Battle  Club— 
A  Horrible  Instrument — Pipe  Stones — Indian  Kinne-kan-nick — How  it  is 
Made — Sumach  Tobacco — The  Indian's  Acknowledgment  of  God — Tobacco 
Bags— How  and  of  What  they  are  Made— Their  Value. 

CHAPTER  XV. — Trapping — When  the  Indians  Learned  the  Art  of  Trapping — 
How  to  Set  the  Traps — A  Trapper's  Life — Hard  Work — Number  of  Beaver 
Usually  Taken  with  a  Dozen  Traps — Indian  Peculiarities — Crow  Superstition 
about  the  Bear — The  Crow  Chief,  Iron  Bull — Sioux  Superstition  about  the 
Prairie-Dog— What  this  Animal  Really  is— A  Case  of  Prejudice— Bear  Claws. 

CHAPTER  XVI.— Scalping— Why  the  Indians  Scalp  People— A  Singular  Belief- 
No  Bald  Heads  in  Heaven — The  Scalp-Lock — How  the  Pawnees,  Sioux,  and 
Winnebagoes  Wear  their  Hair — Other  Indians — Ornaments  for  the  Hair — The 


CONTENTS. 


Silver  Tails — A  Sioux  Long  Tail — The  Iron  Ring  Ornament — How  to  Take  it 
Off—  Does  it  Pull?— The  Scalping-Knife— A  Preserved  Scalp— Mr.  Belden's 
Belt. 

CHAPTER  XVII. — Painting  the  Face — Indian  Taste — The  Lone  Paint — Scalp 
Paint — Parting  the  Hair— How  Indian  Girls  Paint — Love  Paint — A  Cause  of 
Excitement — Laughable  Mistakes — The  Indian  Belle — Her  Disappointment — 
The  Sioux  Death  Paint — Crow  and  Snake  Colorings — Looking-Glasses — Nat 
ural  Mirrors — A  Sioux  Beauty  Surprised — Her  Mortification  and  Modesty. 

CHAPTER  XVIII.— Indian  Head-Dresses—How  they  are  Made— The  Skull- 
Cap— The  Buffalo  Head-Dress— An  Enormous  Hat — Standing  Bull's  Head- 
Dress—Warriors  Visiting— Their  Hat-Boxes— An  Indian  Toilet— The  Bald 
and  Black  Eagle — Their  Use — Value  of  Eagle  Feathers — Price  of  an  Indian 
Head-Gear—Feather  Signs— Their  Use  in  War— The  Scalp  Feather— An 
Indian  Ensign. 

CHAPTER  XIX. — Moccasins — The  Indians  as  Shoemakers — How  Moccasins  are 
Made — Who  Make  them — Sioux,  Cheyenne,  Arrapahoe,  Crow,  and  Pawnee 
Shoes— Their  Shape  and  Tracks— Imitative  Power  of  the  Indian — The  Win- 
nebagoes  as  Manufacturers — Winnebago  Women — Their  Comeliness  of  Per 
son—How  they  Braid  their  Hair — A  Beautiful  Custom— Shells  of  Ocean — A 
Sioux  Ear-Ring—Bead  Belt— Cost  of  Sea-shells  and  their  use. 

CHAPTER  XX.— Indian  Women— Child-bearing  among  them — Physical  Endur 
ance  of  the  Squaw — Her  Habits — The  Pappoose — Indian  Cradles — How 
they  are  Made — Carrying  the  Pappoose — Indian  Education — Mourning  for 
the  Dead — Disfiguration  of  the  Body — A  Tedious  and  Barbarous  Custom — 
Mourning  for  the  Slain  at  Phil.  Kearney — Punishing  Dumb  Animals  for  the 
Dead— The  Baby  Asleep. 

CHAPTER  XXI.— Indian  Dogs— Their  Origin— Habits  of  the  Dog — His  Cow 
ardice  and  Treachery — What  the  Indians  do  with  Him — Number  of  Dogs  to 
a  Family — Raising  Dogs  for  Food — Indian  Dog  Feasts — The  Author  Attends 
one — Dog  Soup — Manners  at  an  Indian  Table — How  Dogs  are  Cooked — The  v 
Prejudice  Against  Dog  Meat— How  it  Tastes— Why  do  n't  we  Eat  Dogs  ?— 
Wild  Artichokes  and  Corn — The  Author  Learns  to  Like  Dog — An  Enterprise 
Considered — The  Enterprise  Abandoned. 

CHAPTER  XXII.— The  Fall  Hunt— A  New  Expedition  Planned— The  Start- 
Camps  on  the  Missouri — A  Delightful  Country — Pleasures  of  Camping  Out — 
A  Herd  of  Buffalo— The  Old  Bull— An  Adventure  with  a  Buffalo— The  Pur 
suit — Pursuer  Pursued— My  Pony— Terrible  Fall— Perilous  Situation— Given 
up  for  Lost — The  Deliverance — A  Lesson  to  Buffalo  Hunters. 

CHAPTER  XXIII.— Off  for  the  Mountains— Hunting  Elk  and  Antelope— A  Bear 
Hunt — The  Three  Grizzlies — A  Race — Looking  for  the  Game — More  Game 
Found  than  Wanted — Taking  up  a  Position — Skirmishing — The  Enemy  won't 
Scare— The  Battle— A  She-Bear  and  Two  Cubs — Intelligence  of  the  Bear— 
A  Dead  Monster — Skinning  a  Bear — The  Return  to  Camp — An  Alarm — 
Indians — What  Frightened  them — Supper  in  Camp — A  Night  March — Far  up 
in  the  Mountains — Our  New  Camp. 

CHAPTER  XXIV.— Hunting  Rocky  Mountain  Sheep— An  Early  Start— Meeting 
the  Sun  on  the  Mountain-tops — The  Big  Horns  in  Sight — La  Frombe  Kills  a 
Sheep— My  Chagrin  at  a  Bad  Shot— Following  the  Big  Horns— A  Toilsome 
Journey — The  Sheep  in  Sight  Again — Killing  a  Ram — His  Astonishing 
Strength — A  Meal  on  the  Mountain — The  Return — Home  Once  More. 

CHAPTER  XXV.— Old  Buffalo  Bulls— The  Monarchs  of  the  Prairies— A  Chase 
After  one — His  Rage  and  Efforts  to  Capture  me — A  Trick — How  he  Hid  from 
me— Terrible  Collision— The  Result — What  I  Saw— Dangerous  Situation- 
Death  of  the  Buffalo— My  Condition— Poor  Little  Pony— The  Return  to 
Camp— Alarm  of  my  Friends— All  Right  Once  More. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XXVI.— Legend  of  Crazy  Woman— Story  of  the  Old  Indian— In 
troduction  of  Rum  among  the  Crows — The  White  Trader — Singular  Con 
duct  of  the  Chief— The  Crazy  Warrior— Crow  Council— The  Black  Water- 
Speech  of  the  Young  Warrior— Peril  of  the  Trader— The  Confession— An 
Indian  Duel — Death  of  the  Trembling  Hand — Murder  of  the  Trader— The 
White  Squaw— Her  Escape— The  Crazy  Woman— How  the  Stream  tcvk  its 
Name. 

CHAPTER  XXVII.— Stealing  Ponies  from  the  Indians— Nelson,  my  Compan 
ion — A  Short  Biography — Dangerous  Situation — Discovery  of  the  Indian 
Village — Nelson's  Coolness — Watching  the  Village  from  the  Hills — In  the 
Indian  Camp— The  Old  Squaw— The  Alarm— Stampeding  the  Ponies— The 
Pursuit — A  Night  March — Fighting  the  Indians — A  Friendly  Grove — Another 
Night  March— The  Surprise— The  Result— A  Safe  Arrival  at  Home. 

CHAPTER  XXVIII.— Legend  of  the  White  Buffalo— The  Crow  Chiefs  Daugh 
ter — Unreasonable  Conduct  of  her  Father — The  Young  Chief — His  Suit 
Denied— The  White  Buffalo— The  Maiden's  Shame— A  Death  Council— Story 
of  the  Girl — Another  Council — The  Young  Chief  and  the  Maiden  Condemned 
to  Death— Battle  with  the  White  Buffalo— Led  out  to  Die— Discovery  of  the 
White  Buffalo— The  Prisoners  Saved— Death  of  the  White  Buffalo— A  Happy 
Marriage. 

CHAPTER  XXIX.— Story  of  the  Storm-Child— A  Famine  among  the  Crow 
Indians — The  Journey  to  the  Mountains — Plenty  of  Game — Are  Threatened 
with  Starvation  again — The  Big  Ring  Hunt — A  Storm — The  Hands  in  the 
Clouds— The  Green  Child— Death  of  the  Crow  Warrior  who  Touched  it— Birth 
of  the  Storm -Child — A  Singular  Superstition — The  Storm-Child  Lives  and 
Grows  to  be  a  Woman. 

CHAPTER  XXX.— The  Plum-Stone  Game — How  it  is  Played— Manner  of  Count 
ing — The  Dice — How  they  are  Made — Shaking  them  Up — A  Pair  of  Old  Grum 
blers — Dead  Broke — Story  Telling — George  Washington — The  Missionary  and 
his  Books — Intelligence  of  the  Indians — Their  Love  of  Reading — How  they 
Impart  Information  to  each  other— Familiarity  with  the  Character  of  Wash 
ington — The  Cause — Preparations  for  the  Old  Man's  Story. 

CHAPTER  XXXI.— The  Old  Man's  Story— His  Grandfather's  Tale— Early  His 
tory  of  the  Sioux  Nation— Their  Power  and  Glory— First  Visit  of  the  White 
Man — His  Gun  Described — Astonishment  of  the  Indians  at  its  Power — The 
Council — The  White  Man  Allowed  to  Remain — The  Buffalo  Hunt — How  the 
White  Man  Killed  Game— Alarm  of  the  Buffalo  at  the  Noise  of  his  Gun— The 
Buffalo  all  Run  Away — Another  Council — The  White  Man  Sentenced  to 
Death— Death  of  the  Squaw— Death  of  the  White  Man— His  Prediction- 
Division  of  the  Tribe — Where  the  Bands  Went — The  Brule,  Ogallala,  Santee, 
and  Yankton  Sioux. 

CHAPTER  XXXII.— Indian  Pastimes — Jugglers  and  Mountebanks— Curiosity 
of  the  Savages— The  Gun  Trick— Catching  Bullets— A  Dangerous  Trick— The 
Triumphant  Juggler — A  Juggler  Out-juggled — Firing  a  Gun  with  Ashes — 
The  Trick  Successfully  Performed — Astonishment  of  the  Indians — How  it  was 
Done — Throwing  the  Pony — A  Failure— The  Owner  Throws  the  Pony  to  Show 
How  it  was  Done — End  of  an  Indian  Show. 

CHAPTER  XXXIII.— A  Visit  to  the  Missionary— His  Anxiety  for  my  Welfare— 
A  Proposition  to  go  Home,  or  become  a  Missionary — I  Respectfully  Decline — 
A  Visit  to  an  Indian  School— Singular  Method  of  Teaching  the  Children— 
The  Object  of  it — Promise  to  Visit  the  Missionary  Often — French  Pete,  th« 
Trader— Visit  to  his  Store— I  Relate  to  him  my  History,  and  he  Tells  me  a 
Story. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV.— The  Trader's  Story— St.  Paul  in  Early  Times— Failure  of 
the  Indian  Trade — Panic  among  the  Indian  Traders — Off  for  the  Savage 
Trihes — Purchasing  Indian  Goods — Fort  Randall — Meeting  with  the  La 
Frombe  Brothers — What  they  Said — Camping  in  the  Old  Ranche — Strange 
Voices — A  Frontier  Supper — Singular  Noises — The  Alarm — A  Head  above  the 
\\rall — Waiting  for  the  Enemy — Imagined  Security — Interviewing  the  Sav 
ages — Death  of  the  Man  on  the  Wall — Preparations  for  the  Battle — The  In 
dian  War-Whoop. 

CHAPTER  XXXV.— The  Attack — The  Repulse— Firing  the  Prairie— Strengthen 
ing  our  Works — Louis  is  Wounded — A  Broadside  at  the  Indians — Good  Effects 
of°a  Double  Barreled  Gun — A  Truce — Carrying  off  the  Dead — Indian  Strat 
egy — All  Ready  again — Renewal  of  the  Battle — Tomahawked — Death  of  Bap- 
tiste — Escape  of  Louis — Return  to  Consciousness — Kindness  of  the  Indians — 
I  join  the  Tribe  and  get  back  my  Goods — Trading  in  the  Indian  Camp — The 
Profits— Off  to  St.  Louis  for  more  Goods— End  of  the  Trader's  Story. 

CHAPTER  XXXVI.— Traditions  of  the  Sioux  Nation— Their  Origin  and  Early 
History  as  told  by  Themselves — Division  of  the  Assiniboines  from  the  Sioux — 
The  Love  of  a  Faithless  Woman  causes  War. 

CHAPTER  XXXVII.— The  Indian  Sweat-Lodge—How  it  is  Built— Manner  of 
Using  it — How  the  Indians  Treat  their  Sick — Old  Men  and  Women  of  no 
Account — Indian  Science  of  Medicine — I  get  Sick — The  Missionary's  Medi 
cine — I  Grow  Worse — Anxiety  of  my  Squaw — She  Consults  with  the  Old 
Medicine  Man— What  they  Did— A  Stubborn  Doctor  and  Wife— I  am  to 
be  Killed  or  Cured— Terrible  Sweat— I  Faint  from  Exhaustion— They  try 
to  drown  me — Rapid  Recovery — Wonderfully  Beneficial  Effects  of  the  Sweat- 
Bath—Cases  in  which  the  Sweat-Bath  is  Never  Used. 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII.— Night  Scenes  in  an  Indian  Village— Chants  of  the 
Medicine  Men — Smoking,  Story-Telling,  and  Dancing — Wild  Young  \Men— 
A  Story-Telling  People — Good  Listeners — Preservation  of  Historical  Events 
among  the  Sioux — Remarkable  Correctness  of  their  Narratives — What  Neil 
says  about  Them — War  Songs — Deeds  of  the  Forefathers — What  the  Young 
Men  are  Taught — Indian  Girls — Their  Coquetry — Childhood  of  the  Indian 
Girl — Her  Married  Life  one  of  Slavery — The  War  Path — Consecration  of  Ani 
mals — War  and  Chase  Dances. 

CHAPTER  XXXIX.— A  Sioux  Doctor— Derivation  of  the  Term  Medicine  Man- 
Superstition  about  Tails — Sucking  Disease  out  of  a  Patient — Sending  for  the 
Doctor — War  Prophets — Funny  way  of  Visiting  a  Patient — Symbols  and 
Charms— Casting  the  Bad  Spirit  out  of  a  Sick  Man— A  Water-Cure — The 
Image — Shooting  the  Image — Perilous  Posture  of  a  Woman — Burying  the 
Image — Wa-Kan  Ton-Ka — Another  Kind  of  Indian  Doctor — The  Prophets — 
Their  Functions  and  Egotism — Reception  of  War  Parties — Painting  and  Dye 
ing  Scalps — Dancing  the  Scalps — How  the  Ceremony  is  Performed — Gourd 
Rattles— A  Mistaken  Theory  about  Scalp  Dancing— What  Becomes  of  the 
Scalp  after  it  is  Danced— How  the  Warrior  Wears  it— The  Eagle's  Feather 
with  a  Red  Spot— The  Red  and  Black  Hand— The  Medicine  Men  of  the 
M'Dewankantonwan  Tribe — Freemasonry  of  the  Oanktahee — Initiation  of 
a  Medicine  Man— A  Severe  Ordeal — Description  of  the  Ceremony — Chants  of 
the  Medicine  Men*— Their  Translation— An  Absurd  Conceit— What  a  Medi 
cine  Bag  is  Made  out  of — The  Contents  of  one  Exposed. 

CHAPTER  XL.— Old  Indian  Deeds— Rascality  of  White  Men— Jonathan  Carver's 
Deed — How  the  Indians  are  Cheated  out  of  their  Lands — Indian  Signa 
tures — Deeds  and  Conveyances  to  Ducharme — Cheap  Lands — Bitter  Recol 
lections — Why  the  Sioux  are  Distrustful  of  the  White  Men. 


10  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XLI.— How  the  Indians  Compute  Time— No  Months  in  their  Year- 
Number  and  Designation  of  their  Moons— A  Superstition  aboat  the  Evil  Spirits 
Eating  Up  the  Moon — How  the  Great  Spirit  Replaces  it — The  Dog  Dance — 
Why  it  is  Seldom  Performed — Manner  of  Performing  the  Ceremony — Eating 
Raw  Dog — What  Part  the  Squaws  get — In  whose  honor  Dog  Dances  are  Made — 
The  Fish  Dance— Origin  of  the  Ceremony— The  Sioux  Chief — A  Singular 
Dream— Mode  of  Conducting  the  Fish  Dance — No  One  but  Chiefs  Entitled  to 
so  Great  an  Honor. 

CHAPTER  XLII.— Ma-To-Sca's  Saddle— How  it  was  Made— My  Anxiety  to 
Possess  it— Ma-To-Sca  Refuses  to  Sell  it— Efforts  to  get  my  Squaws  to  Make 
me  a  Saddle — The  Result— Ma-To-Sca's  Gun— The  Gun  Cover— How  it  was 
Made. 

CHAPTER  XLIIL— The  Old  Man— His  Age— A  Singular  Person— A  Jovial 
Party — Young  Men  and  Women — Giving  the  Old  Man  his  Last  Smoke — What 
the  Squaw  said  about  Him— Death  of  the  Old  Man. 

CHAPTER  XLIV. — Sioux  Women — Their  Life — Polygamy  among  the  Sioux- 
Price  of  Wives— Courting  a  Sioux  Girl— The  Bride  going  to  the  Groom- 
Buying  a  Whole  Family  to  get  a  Wife — What  Constitutes  an  Accomplished 
Indian  Wife— Labors  of  a  Sioux  Mother— Severe  Treatment  of  Indian  Wo 
men — An  Example  of  Indian  Cruelty — Suicide  among  the  Indians. 

CHAPTER  XL V.— News  from  the  War— Startling  Intelligence— What  the  Indian 
Runner  Said — Determine  to  Join  the  Union  Army — Pack  up  and  Leave  for 
the  States — Arrival  at  Fort  Randall — Part  with  my  Squaws — Their  Return  to 
their  Tribe— Reach  Omaha— Join  the  First  Nebraska  Cavalry— Col.  Brown's 
Expedition — Hostile  Sioux — Camping  on  the  Republican — The  Sioux  Defeat 
Lieut.  Murie — After  the  Indians — Our  Camp  on  the  Solomon — A  Buffalo  Bull 
in  Camp— He  Kills  Two  Horses— Death  of  the  Buffalo— Eating  dear  Beef— 
What  Col.  Brown  Said. 

CHAPTER  XLVI.— Five  Hundred  Dollars  Reward— Adventure  of  Sergeants  Hlles 
and  Holla — A  Dangerous  Enterprise — Nelson  and  I  Hunt  for  an  Indian  Vil 
lage—Perilous  Position— The  Discovery— The  Flight— An  Indian  Trail— A 
Race  for  Life — Safe  Return  to  Camp — Sergeant  Hiles's  Story — Death  of 
Rolla — Corralled  in  a  Snow  Drift — A  Narrow  Escape — A  Long  Walk — All 
Right  Once  More. 

CHAPTER  XL VII.— Hunting  Wild  Turkeys  on  the  Medicine — The  Lost  Trail- 
Waiting  for  the  Command — Bag  a  Fine  Elk — Hunting  for  the  Trail — Two 
Indians — We  Camp  Out — An  Adventure  with  Wolves — Cayotes  and  Buffalo 
Wolves — Nine  Dead  Wolves— The  Fatal  Leap— A  Busy  Night— On  the 
March — The  Trail  Lost — Camp  out  Again — More  Wolves — Cannibals — Strik 
ing  for  Home — The  Camp  Found — In  my  own  Tent — Pleasant  Reflections  and 
Rest. 

CHAPTER  XLVIII.— Hunting  my  Pony  on  the  Prairie— Caught  by  Indians- 
How  I  Fooled  them — Waylaying  the  Stage-Coach — A  Nice  Occupation  for  a 
United  States  Officer — A  Disappointment  to  the  Indians,  but  not  to  me — 
The  Indians  become  Impatient  and  Leave — Left  Behind — Running  to  the 
Ranche— The  Coach— Its  Condition— The  Attack— The  Result— Safe  at  the 
Ranche. 

CHAPTER  XLIX. — Capturing  Two  Sioux  Warriors  at  Oilman's  Ranche — My  Pet 
Indians — War  Dances  and  Songs — The  Entrapped  Ogallalas — Escape  of  the 
Warrior  and  Ponies — More  Dancing — An  Unpleasant  Request — The  Refusal 
— What  Came  of  it — Springer's  Advice— Fate  of  the  Two  Sioux— Their  Hero 
ism  and  Endurance — Terrible  Barbarity  of  Savages— What  They  Had  to  Say 
about  it. 


CONTENTS.  11 

CHAPTER  L. — Guarding  Jack  Morrow's  Ranche — An  Adventure  with  Wood- 
haulers — Campaigning  Along  the  Platte — My  Indian  Soldiers — How  we 
Opened  the  Stable — What  the  Wood-haulers  said  About  It — A  Surprise — Sad 
Attempt  at  Joking — Fixing  Up  Jack  Morrow's  Property — Off  for  Omaha. 

CHAPTER  LL— Massacre  of  Cottonwood  Canyon— The  Scurvy  among  the  Troops 
— Lack  of  Anti-Scorbutics — They  Arrive  at  Last — The  Doctor's  Advice — 
The  Plum  Grove— Captain  Mitchell's  Party— The  Indian  Attack— Escape  of 
Wise — Death  of  Rentz — A  Race  for  Life — Corralled — Unfortunate  Accidents — 
Perilous  Position  of  Captain  Mitchell— Spotted  Tail— Discovery  of  Ander- 
Bon — A  Desperate  Battle — Death  of  Anderson — Indian  Barbarity — Massacre 
of  the  Pick  Men— The  Escape  and  Pursuit— A  Bootless  Chase. 

CHAPTER  LII. — Captain  Hancock's  Adventure  with  the  Sioux — The  Stage  Coach 
Attack— Death  of  Cinnam  >n— A  Western  Stage  Driver— What  he  did  when 
the  Coach  was  Attacked  —The  Dead  Horse — A  Predicament — Amputation 
of  a  Leg — How  to  fight  Sioux  Indians — Off  for  the  Ranche — A  Funeral  Pro 
cession — Arrival  at  Gilman's — All  Aboard — Off  Again — Burial  of  Cinnamon 
— Recovery  of  the  Wounded— The  Sioux  Trail— The  Signs— Where  they  went. 

CHAPTER  LIII.— General  Sully's  Expedition  against  the  Sioux— The  March  up 
the  Missouri — Arrival  at  Fort  Sully — Old  Keg,  the  Guide — Inhumanity  of  his 
Tribe — Scouting  for  Indians — Hot  Weather — The  Indians  Found — Race  for 
the  Battle-field— A  Desperate  Battle — Horrible  Treatment  of  the  Wounded— 
Lieut.  Levitt — His  Desperate  Encounter  with  Squaws — A  Night  of  Horrors- 
Death  of  Lieut.  Levitt— Escape  of  the  Savages— The  Pursuit— Their  Dead  and 
Wounded— Loss  of  the  Whites. 

CHAPTER  LIV.— An  Indian  Attack— Attempt  to  Rescue  the  Prisoners — Lieul 
Bayne's  Scout — The  Warning — Mistaken  Pride — Surrounded  by  Savages— 
A  Desperate  Situation — Bayne's  Irresolution — A  Brave  Sergeant — Dreadful 
Charge— Fighting  for  Life — The  Command  Saved — The  Sergeant's  Horse 
Wounded — He  is  Left  Behind — Ingratitude  of  his  Comrades — Noble  Sacri 
fice—Heroism  of  the  Sergeant— He  Kills  Eight  Indians— Death  of  the  Ser 
geant — The  Return  to  Camp — Bayne's  Report — Honors  to  the  Dead  Sergeant's 
Body. 

CHAPTER  LV.— Scouting  on  the  Republican— Hiding  along  the  Creeks— Sally 
out  to  Kill  a  Buffalo— The  Wounded  Calf— Hunting  Buffalo  with  two  In 
dians — Race  after  the  Herd — Another  Frightened  Herd — The  Cause  of  its 
Alarm — Perilous  Situation — Hiding  in  the  Bluffs — Returning  to  Camp — Un 
expected  Game— Some  Steaks  after  all— A  Hasty  Supper— The  Flight — Safe 
in  Camp. 

CHAPTER  LVI. — Appointed  a  Second  Lieutenant  in  the  Regular  Army — Go  to 
Washington — Call  upon  my  Old  Friends  in  Ohio — Join  my  Company — Hunting 
Deserters — With  General  Sweitzer — Extraordinary  Sportsmanship — Prairies  on 
Fire — A  Beautiful  Sight — Indian  Attack  on  Lieut.  M'Carthy's  Command — The 
Phil  Kearney  Massacre  Ground— Lieut.  Shirly's  Indian  Battle— March  to 
his  Relief — Scouting  on  the  Powder  River — A  Storm — Blue  Skies  again-r-The 
Crow  Indians— A  Nation  of  Beggars— Noble  Chiefs— Return  to  the  Fort. 

CHAPTER  LVII.— Garrison  Life— Hunting  Rocky  Mountain  Sheep — A  Chase 
after  Indians— How  they  Carry  Off  their  Dead— Siege  of  McPherson's  Train— 
The  Relief — Joy  of  the  Rescued — The  Battle-field — March  Homeward — The 
Deserted  Lodge— Indians  Again— Wolves  and  the  0\d  Buffalo  Bull— At  Phil 
Kearney— Basache,  the  Runner— Her  History— How  She  Killed  the  Bear- 
Why  She  Received  her  Name. 

CHAPTER  LVIII.— Indian  Alarms— The  Sioux— Standing  to  Arms— Attack  on 
the  Wood-choppers — Battle  at  Piney — Death  of  the  Woodrchoppers — Pursu 
ing  the  Indians— They  Won't  Fight  the  Soldiers— Another  Alarm— Fire— 


12  CONTENTS. 


Suspicions  of  Treachery— To  Fort  Reno  and  Back— New  Year's  in  Camp— The 
Indians  on  the  Hills — A  Council — Speech  of  Dr.  Matthews  to  the  Chiefs — 
Their  Reply— The  Council  Ends  in  Smoke  and  Bad  Blood— Trading  with  the 
Indians — A  Bridal  Rohe— The  Upper  and  Lower  Crows — Basache  Determines 
to  Leave  Me— She  Goes  to  Join  her  Tribe. 

CHAPTER  LIX.— Red  Cloud  About— Basache  Returns— She  is  Tired  of  being 
a  Chiefs  Daughter  with  Nothing  to  Eat— Indian  Articles  of  Value— Their 
Price — Letters  from  Home — Startling  News — A  Curious  Ceremony — Chris 
tening  an  Indian  Child — Superstition  about  Crying — The  Dog  Law — Indians 
Eating  Dogs — An  Amusing  Occurrence — No  Favor  among  Curs — The  Spring 
Coming — Bird  Shooting. 

CHAPTER  LX.— The  Sioux  Threaten  Fort  Kearney— Attack  on  Infantry-men— 
Run  into  the  Fort — General  Smith's  Interview  with  the  Sioux — Who  they  Were 
and  what  they  Said — A  Cavalry  Scare — The  Indians  Encamp  Near  the  Fort — 
Their  Defiance — A  Train  Signaled — We  Go  out  to  Meet  it — Corralled  by  In 
dians — Desperate  Situation — A  Fight — Twenty  against  Two — A  Struggle  for 
Life— The  Gates  of  the  Fort  Thrown  Open— Saved— Punishment  of  the  In 
dians — Return  to  Friends — A  Joyful  Evening. 

CHAPTER  LXI.— My  Army  Duties— Troubles— Customs  of  Service— The  Written 
and  Unwritten  Law — Modern  Slavery — Perplexities  of  a  Young  Officer's  Life — 
Guard  Mounting — Old  Army  Officers — Mildness  of  their  Manners — How  they 
Treat  Young  Officers — Venerable  Buffers — Guard  Ceremony — The  Officer  of  the 
Guard — Post  Adjutants — Old  and  New  Guards — Relieving  the  Guard — Posting 
the  Sentinels — Minuteness  of  Military  Duty — Errors — The  Punishment. 

CHAPTER  LXII.— The  Regular  Army— Its  Use  in  Settling  and  Developing  the 
Country — How  Army  People  Live,  and  what  they  Do — Occupation  of  New 
Lines  of  Country — The  Regular  Army  on  the  March — Camping  Out — What  is 
Carried,  and  how  Soldiering  is  done  in  Peace  Times — Building  Forts — Get 
ting  Up  Supplies— Fighting  Indians— Settling  the  Country— What  the  Cavalry 
Does — Hardships  of  a  Soldier's  Life — The  Uncertainties  of  Service — What 
Army  Officers  are  Paid. 

CHAPTER  LXIIL— Further  Account'of  how  Indians  Get  their  Names— Mock-Pe- 
Lu-Tah— Ta-Shunk-Ah-Ko-Ke-Pah-Pe — Cin-Ta-Gel-Les-Sca,  Spotted  Tail's 
Daughter— Closed  Hand— White  Forehead— No  Knife— Superstition  among 
the  Crows  about  Tails — Tickling  a  Crow  Girl,  and  what  Came  of  it — Basache 
— Ba-Ra-We-A-Pak-Peis— Pen-Ke-Pah— Leaving  the  Powder  River  Coun 
try—Arrival  at  Reno,  Fetterman,  and  Fort  Steele—  Return  to  Fetterman— 
Fine  Hunting. 

CHAPTER  LXIV.— The  Shoshonee  Indians— Their  First  Introduction  to  the 
Whites — Lewis  and  Clarke's  Expedition  up  the  Missouri  in  1806 — Their 
Reception  by  the  Snakes — Their  Early  History  and  Possessions — Wars  of  the 
Snakes — Their  Allies  :  the  Bannocks — Where  the  Bands  of  Snakes  Roam — 
Washakie's  Band — His  Reservation — How  he  Keeps  his  Treaties — Good 
Indians — What  is  Likely  to  Become  of  Washakie  and  his  People. 

CHAPTER  LXV.— The  Powder  River  Country— Its  Occupation  by  Troops  in 
566— The  Reasons  for  Occupying  it— Cause  of  the  Indian  War  that  Fol 
lowed— Abandonment  of  the  Big  Horn  Territory— Treatment  of  the  Indians— 
What  should  be  Done  with  Them— The  Crow  Tribe— Settling  Indians  on 
Reservations— How  it  has  Worked— Civilization  or  Starvation  the  only  Re 
sult—Our  Duty— Contests  with  Indians  in  1866-67— The  Phil  Kearney  Massa 
cre — The  Powder  River  Country  Described— Climate,  Soil,  Minerals  and 
Game— The  Great  Canyon  of  Big  Horn— Rocky  Mountain  Sheep— Agricultu 
ral  Capacity  of  the  Big  Horn  Country. 


CONTENTS.  13 


CHAPTER  LXVI.— The  Lands  West  of  Powder  River  and  North  of  the  Snake 
Lands — The  Climate  and  Grazing  in  Montana — Indians  and  Hunting  Grounds 
—An  Indian  Battle— The  Chiefs  Daughter — Indian  Camps  along  Bowlder 
Creek — How  Savages  Amuse  Themselves — The  Crow  Nation — A  Tribe  of  Gour 
mands  and  Beggars — Pride  and  Ignorance  of  the  Savages — The  Roads  in  Mon 
tana — Some  Remarks  on  Trade,  Streams  and  Forts — Trout  Fishing — No  Hard 
Wood  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains — Montana  Mountains — Gold  Fields — 
Their  Yield — Mines  and  Mining — New  Discoveries — Characteristic  Letters — 
Expensive  Living — Isolated  Position  of  Montana — Her  Future  Farming 
Lands — Coal  Fields — The  Inhabitants  of  Montana — Their  Peculiarities  and 
Habits. 

SUPPLEMENTARY   CHAPTERS. 
I. — AN  INDIAN  ELOPEMENT. 
II.— THE  HUNTER'S  DREAM. 
III. — JIM  BAKER. 

IV. — THE  MAGIC  CIRCLE  ON  THE  PBAIRI*. 
V. — STRIKING  THE  POST. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


FAG> 

Assinibome  Warrior, 261 

Belden,       . Frontispiece 

Buffalo  Chase, 57 

Bows,  Arrows,  and  Quivers, .          .          .  .          .          .          .          .113 

Body  Robe, .          .    124 

Buffalo  Head-Dress,     .          .          . 148 

Beaded  Moccasins,        ..........    154 

Bear  Band, 156 

Baby  Asleep, 159 

Basache, 385 

Crow  Head-Dress, 158 

Capturing  two  Sioux  Warriors, 338 

Death  of  Atchafalaya,  .........    481 

Eagle  Head-Dress,        ..........    150 

Escape  of  Atchafalaya,         .         .          .  .          .         .         .          .479 

Fine  Pipe, .          .          .          .          .130 

Flagging  the  Antelope,         .........    171 

Fight  in  the  Old  Cabin, .253 

Gun  Case,  .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .       ,  .          .296 

Indian  Village  on  the  March,         ........     41 

Indian  Burying-Ground,       .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .     86 

Indian  Lodges, 97 

Indian  Axes  and  Clubs, 117 

Indian  Warrior  with  Club, 119 

Indian  and  his  Pipe,  .          .          .          .          .          .  .          .          .128 

2  xv 


XVI  LIST    OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

VAM 

Indian  Duel, 190 

Indian  Saddle, .          .          .  294 

Jim  Baker's  Bear  Fight,        .          .          . 495 

Keep  off,    ............  203 

Let  the  Father  be  Silent  and  Hear, 69 

Lieut.  Levitt's  Adventure  with  the  Squaws, .          .          .          ...          .383 

Mourning  for  the  Dead,        .     '     .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .77 

Modern  War  Club, .119 

Modern  Indian  Pipe, 129 

Matosca's  Saddle, 295 

Murder  of  Ed.  Bentz, 345 

Old  Stone  Arrow  Heads,      .........  108 

Pawnee  Spear,    ...........  120 

Practicing  with  Bow  and  Spear, 121 

Pipe,                     ^         .  129 

Preserved  Scalp,          .         . ' 140 

Bight-foot  Moccasins, 153 

Sioux  Warrior  with  Spear, 120 

Skinning  the  Buffalo, 125 

Sioux  Necklace, 138 

Scalping-Knife  and  Sheath, 140 

Silver  Long  Tail  and  Scalp  Feather, 142 

Sioux  Ear-Ring, 155 

Saved, 213 

Striking  the  Post, 509 

Tomahawk  Pipe, 130 

Tobacco  Pouch,  ......•••••  134 

Trader  and  Indian, 185 

Twenty  vs.  Two, 405 

Wampum •          •          .126 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTER  I. 

DIFFICULTIES  IN  WRITING  A  BOOK — MT  EARLY  HOME — RUN  AWAY — ARRIVE 
AT  BROWNSVILLE,  NEBRASKA — ON  THE  BANKS  OF  THE  MISSOURI — FIRST  IM 
PRESSIONS  OF  THE  WEST — EARLY  SETTLERS — MY  FATHER  MOVES  OUT  WEST — 
STARTS  THE  "  NEMAHA  VALLEY  JOURNAL*' — GROWTH  OF  THE  WEST — THIRST 
FOR  ADVENTURE — RUN  AWAY  FROM  HOME  A  SECOND  TIME — REGRETS  AT 

LEAVING THE    PONY OUT   IN   THE   OPEN   AIR — UNDER   THE   STARLIGHT — A 

LAST   LOOK  AT   HOME — OFF    FOR   THE   PLAINS. 

TT  is  no  very  difficult  task  for  me,  at  one  hundred  yards,  to 
-*~  send  a  rifle-ball  against  the  head  of  a  brass  nail,  or  to  cut 
with  an  arrow,  at  half  the  distance,  the  string  that  suspends  a 
squirrel  by  the  tail ;  but  the  pen  is  a  weapon  with  which  my 
hand  has  long  been  unfamiliar.  It  matters  little  where  a  man 
may  have  been  born  in  this  country,  or  what  his  earlier  life 
may  have  been;  for  Americans  consider  more  what  men  are 
than  what  they  have  been.  To  those  who  read  these  pages, 
and  who  may  be  curious  to  know,  I  will,  however,  say  I  was 
born  in  the  good  State  of  Ohio,  and,  at  the  age  of  thirteen, 
ran  away  from  my  parents  to  seek  my  fortune  in  the  then 
almost  unknown  West. 

The  wild  life  I  have  led,  and  the  many  adventures  I  have 
passed  through,  may  seem  almost  incredible  to  those  accus 
tomed  to  living  in  civilized  communities;  yet  I  can  assure  the 

(19) 


20  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

reader  that,  although  there  is  a  great  deal  of  romance,  there  is 
no  fiction  in  these  chapters,  and  that  what  I  am  about  to  re 
late  is  as  much  every-day  life  among  the  wild  Indians  of  the 
plains  as  is  the  business  of  the  merchant  or  banker,  who  goes 
regularly  to  his  counter  and  desk  in  the  great  city. 

How  I  got  from  Ohio  to  Nebraska  is  my  own  affair.  Suf 
fice  it  to  say,  that  I  was  not  yet  fourteen  years  of  age  when 
I  arrived  at  Brownsville,  then  a  small  hamlet  of  log  houses. 
Here,  on  the  banks  of  the  murky  Missouri,  I  first  saw  the 
"  Great  West."  Emigrants  were  pouring  in  from  the  States ; 
and,  filled  with  the  idea  of  the  future  wealth  and  importance 
of  this  broad  land,  I  made  haste  to  write  to  my  father,  de 
scribing  the  valley,  and  urging  him  to  move  out.  That  he 
thought  well  of  what  I  said,  and  relied  somewhat  on  my 
judgment,  is  evinced  by  the  fact  that  he  came  with  his  family 
and  settled  in  Nebraska,  where  now  stands  the  city  of  Browns 
ville. 

My  father  had  once  learned  the  printing  trade,  and  our  first 
enterprise  was  to  establish  a  weekly  newspaper,  called  the 
"  Nemaha  Valley  Journal."  It  was  a  sickly  affair,  but 
through  its  influence  many  a  well-to-do  farmer  was  induced 
to  leave  his  home  in  the  States  to  try  his  fortune  in  the  Far 
"West;  and  of  all  who  came,  not  one,  I  believe,  regrets  the 
day  he  left  the  East.  Many  of  them  now  count  their  herds 
by  thousands  and  number  their  acres  by  miles  of  land,  while 
all  who  have  labored  and  practiced  economy  own  beautiful 
homes,  and  have  abundant  wealth. 

In  two  short  years  brick  houses  began  to  appear;  the  buf 
falo,  game,  and  Indians  were  gone,  and  I  felt  Brownsville  was 
no  longer  my  home.  I  burned  for  adventure,  and  when  our 
little  weekly  paper  was  announced  as  a  "  daily,"  I  knew  it  was 


BELDEX:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  21 

time  for  me  to  be  off.  I  wished  to  see  the  mountains  covered 
with  perpetual  snow;  I  longed  to  chase  the  buffalo  and  wild 
deer  over  boundless  plains.  I  wanted  to  dress  as  a  trapper, 
and  live  in  the  open  air.  far  away  from  the  habitations  of 
men.  The  case  and  the  setting  of  type  being  no  longer  toler 
able,  I  flung  down  my  stick,  and,  seeking  my  father,  told  him 
of  my  craving  for  wild  life  and  adventure.  I'was  a  sickly 
boy,  and,  naturally,  he  endeavored  to  dissuade  me  from  my 
purpose  to  cast  myself  loose  on  the  prairies.  Finding  I  could 
not  gain  his  consent,  I  determined  to  run  away  once  more ; 
?.nd,  consulting  with  a  friend,  I  begged  him  to  buy  me  a 
horse.  In  two  days  I  had  a  stout  pony,  saddle,  and  bridle 
concealed  in  the  stable  of  a  Mr.  Hill,  and  awaiting  my  order. 
My  rifle  and  revolvers,  which  had  already  become  my  familiar 
companions  and  most  trusted  friends,  were  carefully  cleaned, 
oiled,  and  laid  away.  I  overhauled  my  shot-pouch,  and  pur 
chased  a  good  supply  of  powder,  ball,  and  caps.  All  these 
warlike  preparations  did  not  escape  the  attention  of  my  good 
mother  and  sisters,  who  anxiously  inquired  what  I  meant  to 
do.  God  forgive  me  for  the  story  I  told  them,  but  I  desired 
only  to  avoid  giving  them  pain,  and  said  I  intended  taking  a 
short  hunt  some  day  on  the  prairies.  It  is  now  many  years 
ago,  but  that  short  hunt  is  not  yet  ended,  and,  probably, 
never  will  be  until  death  ends  the  hunter. 

It  was  a  beautiful  starlight  night  when  I  stole  down  the 
'stairs,  and,  quietly  opening  the  street  door,  stepped  into  the 
open  air.  For  a  moment  I  paused  on  the  threshold,  and  an  in 
tense  desire  to  go  back  seized  me.  I  wished  to  look  once  more 
on  the  faces  of  my  dear  mother  and  sisters.  Should  I  ever 
see  them  again?  Ah,  who  could  tell?  I  stood  irresolute,  but 
the  sound  of  approaching  footsteps  on  the  street  aroused  me, 


22  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE,  CHIEF. 

and,  crushing  down  the  great  lump  in  my  throat,  I  brushed 
aside  the  gathering  tears  I  could  not  suppress,  and  hastened 
to  the  stable  where  my  horse  was  concealed. 

To  saddle  and  bridle  him,  mount  and  gallop  out  of  the 
town,  was  the  work  of  but  a  few  minutes.  On  the  rising 
ground  overlooking  the  city  I  paused  for  one  last  look  of 
home.  How  quietly  the  houses  lay  in  the  moon-light!  how 
peacefully  the  hundreds  slept !  And  is  it  not  strange  that  I,  a 
mere  boy,  was  possessed  of  a  restless  spirit  that  would  not  let 
me  sleep,  that  was  driving  me  from  home,  plenty,  and  friends 
to  the  wilderness,  to  take  upon  myself  hardships,  privations, 
and  dangers  that,  if  foreseen,  were  well  calculated  to  appall 
the  stoutest  hearts?  I  said,  "O,  fool,  how  long?"  and  turn 
ing  my  horse's  head  to  the  northward,  plunged  my  spurs  into 
his  sides,  causing  him  to  rear  wildly,  and  then  bound  furiously 
over  the  broad  prairie. 

The  die  was  cast ;  a  life  of  adventure  decided  upon,  and  I 
was  off  for  the  boundless  plains,  where  the  buffalo  roamed  at 
will ;  where  I  could  hunt  the  elk,  and  trap  the  beaver ;  dwell 
in  a  wigwam,  and  make  my  home  with  the  children  of  the 
"  Great  American  Desert." 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  23 


CHAPTER    II. 

NEBRASKA  CITY — OMAHA — COUNCIL  BLUFFS — LAYING  IN  SUPPLIES — A  SUR 
PRISE—OFF  AGAIN — LOST  ON  THE  PRAIRIES — AN  ALARM — THE  HUNTER* S 
CABIN — INDIAN  NEWS— A  FRONTIER  SUPPER — THE  PEACE  PIPE — SINGULAR 
BEHAVIOR  OF  MY  HOST — THE  RED  DEVILS  AT  WORK — A  NEW  ARRIVAL  — 

GENEROSITY    EXTRAORDINARY  —  SIOUX     CITY LA     FROMBE  —  JOINING     THE 

INDIANS — ADOPTED  INTO  THE  TRIBE    -AN  INDIAN  SWEETHEART — MARRIED  BY 
ORDER — SETTLING  DOWN  TO  BE  A  WARRIOR. 

"IjlAST  and  furious  I  rode  forward,  never  pulling  rein  until  I 
-*-  arrived  at  Nebraska  City,  then  a  small  village,  though 
now  a  considerable  place.  Halting  to  rest  for  an  hour  or  two,  I 
suddenly  remembered  that  my  parents  had  friends  in  the  town, 
and  that  a  telegraph  ran  from  there  to  Brownsville,  and,  fear 
ing  lest  I  should  be  telegraphed  or  taken  charge  of  by  rela 
tives,  I  mounted  my  pony,  and,  striking  boldly  out  on  the 
prairie,  kept  in  what  I  supposed  the  direction  to  Omaha,  and 
just  as  the  sun  was  going  down  I  saw  the  city,  and  by  dark  was 
in  it,  having  ridden  eighty-five  miles  in  less  than  twenty-four 
hours.  The  heat  had  visibly  affected  me,  and  I  felt  fatigued, 
though  my  tough  little  poney  seemed  fresh  almost  as  when 
starting.  Opposite  Omaha  is  Council  Bluffs,  so  named  from  a 
famous  Sioux  Indian  council  once  held  in  the  hills  above  the 
city ;  and  feeling  I  should  be  more  secure  there  than  in  Omaha, 
I  crossed  the  Missouri  and  put  up  at  a  small  and  obscure  hotel. 


24  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

It  was  now  late  at  night,  and  I  was  completely  exhausted. 
Putting  the  pony  in  the  stable,  and  seeing  him  well  supplied 
with  hay,  I  went  to  bed  and  slept  for  many  hours,  until  the 
sun  shining  through  the  window  awoke  me,  and,  hastily  dress 
ing  myself,  I  breakfasted  and  sallied  out  to  see  the  town  and 
buy  some  more  ammunition.  I  had  determined  to  stay  several 
days  at  the  Bluffs,  but,  while  standing  in  a  store,  I  saw  a 
neighbor  from  Brownsville  pass,  and,  imagining  he  was  looking 
for  me,  I  slipped  out,  and,  going  to  the  hotel,  saddled  my  pony 
and  departed  in  haste. 

I  had  purchased  many  shells,  beads,  ribbons,  and  pieces  of 
colored  cloths,  to  trade  with  the  Indians,  and  with  great  diffi 
culty  managed  to  carry  them  along. 

Following  up  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Missouri,  I  passed 
over  high  hills,  through  deep  caflons,  across  wide  meadows  and 
prairies,  and  climbed  precipitous  bluffs.  It  was  in  August, 
that  season  of  the  year  when  the  prairie  strawberry  is  ripe. 
The  ground,  at  times,  for  miles  was  covered  with  this  delicious 
fruit,  and  many  were  the  halts  I  made  to  rest  my  pony  and 
gather  the  luscious  berries. 

I  was  riding  to  reach  a  hunter's  cabin,  forty  miles  up  the 
Missouri,  but  the  day  was  hot,  and  I  made  slow  progress. 
Night  came  down  upon  the  prairies,  and  still  no  cabin  was  in 
sight.  It  soon  became  so  dark  I  could  with  difficulty  follow 
the  trail,  and  was  about  to  give  up  all  effort  to  go  further  and 
camp  on  the  prairies,  when  my  pony  pricked  up  his  ears  and 
set  off  at  a  gallop. 

I  gave  him  rein,  and  he  traveled  rapidly  on  what  seemed  to 
be  a  well-beaten  wagon  road.  Suddenly  halting,  so  as  nearly 
to  pitch  me  over  his  head,  the  little  fellow  began  snorting  and 
exhibiting  unusual  signs  of  terror.  I  held  him  firmly,  and, 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  25 

although  I  strained  my  eyes,  it  was  so  dark  that  I  could  see 
nothing.  While  I  was  endeavoring  to  force  the  beast  forward, 
a  rough  voice  close  by  my  stirrup  inquired  : 

"  Who  are  you,  and  where  are  you  going  ? " 

"  A  man  going  to  Sioux  City,  and  looking  for  a  cabin  here 
abouts,"  I  answered. 

"All  right/'  replied  the  voice;  " follow  me." 

"  Do  you  live  near  by  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"  Yes ;  come  along." 

Thus  urged,  I  rode  on  in  silence,  and  presently  entered  a 
patch  of  timber,  where  I  saw  a  light  shining  among  the  trees. 
In  a  few  minutes  we  were  before  the  door  of  a  hut,  and  my 
companion,  with  a  bluff  "Get  down,  stranger,"  entered  the 
house. 

I  did  not  like  the  movements  of  my  host ;  but,  dismounting, 
followed  him  into  a  snug  room,  the  walls  and  floor  of  which 
were  completely  covered  with  the  furs  of  wild  animals.  Softer 
than  any  carpet  were  the  white  wolf  skins  beneath  our  feet,  and 
the  walls  were  rich  with  the  beautiful  coverings  of  antelope 
and  red  deer,  while  in  the  corners  were  antlers  of  elk,  on  which 
hung  clothing,  shot-pouches,  and  Indian  bead-work. 

By  the  light  of  a  rag  burning  in  a  saucer  of  grease,  I  saw 
my  host  was  a  large,  powerfully-built  man,  with  bushy  black 
beard,  and  a  big,  honest  face.  In  a  moment  I  felt  perfectly  at 
ease,  for  I  knew  I  was  in  the  home  of  a  hardy  frontier's-man, 
than  whom  no  honester  or  braver  men  ever  lived. 

"  Darned  if  I  did  n't  take  you  for  a  half-breed  at  first,"  he 
said,  laughing  heartily ;  and  then  added,  "  Where  on  earth  are 
you  going  to,  youngster?" 

"  To  Sioux  City,"  I  replied. 

"Got  friends  there?" 


26  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

"No;  only  on  a  pleasure  trip." 

"  Well,  you  're  after  fun,  sure,  and  if  you  do  n't  look  out 
you  '11  get  it,"  said  my  host,  breaking  out  into  an  immoderate 
fit  of  laughter. 

"  What  news  have  you  ? "  I  inquired. 

"  News  enough,"  said  my  host,  growing  serious.  "  Have  n't 
you  heard  that  the  red  devils  have  broke  loose  again,  and  are 
just  murderin'  every  body  above  here  ?  But  hold  on  till  I  put 
your  pony  up,  and  get  you  a  bite  to  eat,  and  then,  while  we 
smoke,  I  '11  tell  you  all  about  it." 

Here  he  rose  to  his  feet,  and,  uttering  a  loud  shrill  whistle, 
an  Indian  squaw  came  in  at  the  door,  and  my  host,  saying 
something  to  her  in  the  Indian  tongue,  went  out. 

The  squaw,  with  noiseless  tread,  moved  about  the  room, 
making  a  fire,  cutting  meat,  and  putting  the  coffee  on  to  boil, 
never  once  seeming  to  notice  my  presence.  In  a  few  minutes 
the  host  returned,  and,  seating  himself,  began  :  "  You  see,  them 
Sioux  of  the  upper  country  had  a  big  pow-wow  with  the  Min- 
neconja  Sioux,  and  they  all  have  agreed  to  go  to  war.  A  party 
of  the  dirty,  stealin'  cusses  were  down  at  Randall  the  other 
day,  and  drew  all  their  annuities  and  ammunition,  and  then 
went  over  to  see  the  Yanktons,  and  get  them  to  join  in  the 
war.  I  tell  you,  they  are  bound  to  give  us  thunder  this  fall, 
and  swear  they  will  clear  every  white  off  the  Missouri  before 
spring.  They  say  we  must  leave ;  but  I  reckon  I  'm  too  old  a 
duck  to  get  skeered  at  a  darned  Sioux." 

So  he  talked  on  until  the  squaw  had  cooked  the  supper  and 
set  it  out  on  the  floor,  using  a  white  blanket  for  a  table-cloth. 
The  repast  was  a  hearty  one  of  boiled  corn,  fried  elk,  'coon 
meat,  and  corn  bread.  The  coffee  was  poured  into  tin-cups, 
and  the  host,  rising,  said  :  "  Come  and  eat."  Seating  himself 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  27 

opposite  to  me,  on  a  corner  of  -the  blanket,  he  drew  his  knife 
from  a  sheath  by  his  side,  and,  looking  at  me,  inquired  if  I  had 
any  eating  tools.  I  told  him  I  had  a  knife  and  fork  in  my 
saddlebags,  and,  with  the  remark,  "  Better  get  'em,"  he  cut  off 
a  large  slice  of  the  elk  and  commenced  eating.  Having  secured 
my  knife  and  fork,  I  ate  heartily,  for  I  was  very  hungry. 
Picking  up  the  tin  cup,  I  took  a  sup  of  coffee,  and  was  obliged 
to  spit  it  out  to  keep  from  scalding  my  mouth. 

"  Darned  hot,  aint  it  ?  "  said  my  host,  bursting  into  a  loud 
laugh. 

Instinctively  I  looked  at  the  squaw,  but  not  a  smile,  not 
even  a  muscle  moved  in  her  stolid  face.  An  Indian,  unless 
addressed,  never  laughs  or  notices  what  happens  to  others. 

When  supper  was  over,  my  host  filled  a  long-stemmed  pipe, 
and  pointing  with  the  stem  toward  the  sky,  turned  it  to  the 
earth,  and  ejaculating  "  How  !  Wa-con  Tan  Ka !  "  (Good,  Oh 
God!)  handed  it  to  me.  Supposing  the  pipe  was  for  me  to 
smoke,  I  thanked  him,  and  began  pulling  away  at  the  fragrant 
tobacco.  Looking  at  him,  I  saw  an  angry  scowl  on  his  face, 
and  he  said,  roughly,  "Guess  you've  smoked  enough."  I 
handed  the  pipe  back  quickly,  asking,  "  Did  you  not  fill  it 
for  me?"  "Yes,"  he  replied,  "but  it  is  a  peace  pipe,  and 
not  for  much  smoke."*  I  now  saw  that  this  white  man  was 

*  Indians,  when  assembled  together  in  council  of  friendship,  use  the 
peace  pipe.  They  never  use  but  one  pipe,  all  sitting  in  a  circle,  and  the 
man  on  the  right  smoking  first.  Each  Indian  takes  three  or  four  puffs  and 
then  passes  the  pipe  to  the  Indian  on  his  left.  When  it  reaches  the  last 
Indian  on  the  left,  it  is  passed  across  to  the  Indian  on  the  right,  and  com 
mences  its  journey  again.  No  Indian  will  smoke  a  pipe  coming  from  the 
left,  unless  it  is  the  Indian  from  whom  the  pipe  started,  who  receives  it 
from  the  man  on  the  extreme  left  of  the  circle. 


28  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

I 

imbued  with  some  of  the  strange  customs  of  his  savage  neigh 
bors,  and,  fearing  to  offend  him,  said  nothing. 

The  squaw  moved  about  so  noiselessly  that  I  did  not  hear  her 
remove  the  dishes,  but,  on  looking  around,  they  were  all  gone, 
and  the  blanket  taken  up.  How  she  had  cleared  away  the 
things,  without  so  much  as  jostling  a  dish,  I  could  not  conjec 
ture,  and  I  feared  to  give  •  offense  by  making  inquiries,  though 
I  was  burning  with  curiosity  to  learn  more  of  this  strange 
family. 

"  So  you  are  going  to  Sioux  City  ?  "  abruptly  inquired  the 
host,  after  having  remained  quiet  for  half  an  hour. 

"  Yes,"  I  replied ;  and  guessing  he  wished  to  know  the  ob 
ject  of  my  visit,  added :  "  I  'm  going  on  up  to  the  Yanktons, 
and,  perhaps,  as  far  as  the  Santee  village." 

"  What,"  he  inquired,  rising  to  his  feet,  and  eyeing  me 
suspiciously. 

"  I  'm  going  to  the  Yanktons  to  live  and  trade,"  I  answered. 

"  You  '11  be  scalped,  as  sure  as  thunder." 

"  Tell  me  all  about  the  Indians'  actions." 

"  Their  what  ?  " 

"  What  they  have  been  doing  of  late." 

"Well,"  he  replied,  filling  up  and  handing  me  a  pipe, 
"that's  what  I  was  going  to  do.  You  see,  the  brutes  came 
down  to  the  settlement  across  the  river,  and  after  getting 
something  to  eat,  killed  all  they  could.  They  said  they  were 
hungry,  and  while  one  old  man  was  giving  an  Indian  some 
bread  another  one  shot  him.  They  went  into  one  man's 
house,  and  after  eating  at  his  table,  shot  him  dead  and  carried 
off  his  wife.  The  fact  is,  they  stole  all  they  could,  killed  all 
they  could,  and  then  went  up  to  the  fort  and  traded  off  their 
plunder." 


BELDEN:   THE    WHITE   CHIEF.  29 

"What  did  they  do  with  the  woman?"  I  inquired,  all  my 
sympathies  aroused. 

"  Do  with  her  !  "  he  exclaimed.  "  Why,  kept  her  to  gamble 
with,  of  course." 

"How's  that?"  I  pursued. 

"  I  guess  you  aint  been  much  on  the  frontier,"  he  replied, 
laughing. 

I  admitted  that  such  was  the  case,  and  he  said : 

"  You  see,  when  they  take  a  white  woman  they  gamble  her 
off  every  day  until  she  gets  pretty  much  passed  round  the 
tribe,  and  then  she  is  turned  over  to  the  squaws,  who  kill  her, 
because  they  're  always  jealous  of  white  women." 

I  could  not  help  shuddering  at  the  thought  of  a  fate  so 
terrible,  and  paid  little  more  attention  to  what  he  said. 

Feeling  tired,  I  asked  where  I  would  sleep,  and,  my  host 
pointing  to  a  corner  of  the  room,  I  spread  down  my  blankets 
and  soon  fell  asleep. 

At  dawn  of  day  I  was  awakened  by  a  loud  pounding  at  the 
door,  and  my  host,  springing  from  a  pile  of  buffalo  robes  in 
the  opposite  corner  of  the  room,  went  to  see  what  was  the 
matter. 

He  soon  learned  that  a  party  of  miners  had  come  down 
the  Missouri  from  the  Yellowstone,  in  Mackinaw  boats,  and 
seeing  his  hut  from  the  river,  had  tied  up  and  came  over  to 
find  out  who  lived  there,  and  how  far  they  were  from  Omaha. 

My  host  promptly  opened  the  door  and  cordially  welcomed 
the  strangers.  After  a  hearty  breakfast,  we  went  to  the  river 
and  saw  the  boatmen  off.  As  they  shoved  out  from  shore 
my  host  looked  wistfully  after  the  boat,  and  said :  "  How  I 
do  wish  I  had  all  the  robes  and  beaver  skins  them  fellows 
have ;  I  M  leave  this  tarnal  country  if  I  had." 


30  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

"  Did   you  hear  any  thing  more  of  the  Indians  ? "  I  in 
quired. 

"  No,  they  did  n't  see  any,"  he  answered ;  "  but,  depend 
upon  it,  they  're  not  far  off." 

"  Will  your  pony  eat  corn  ?  "  he  inquired. 

"  I  do  n't  know,"  I  replied. 

"  Well,  we  '11  try  him."  And  ordering  the  squaw  to  bring 
him  the  corn  bag,  he  took  from  the  limited  household  store 
about  two  quarts,  and  carried  it  to  the  stable,  where  I  saw 
a  superb  hunting  horse  and  two  splendid  hounds,  who  leaped 
upon  their  master  and  licked  his  hands  and  face. 

"  Do  you  not  feed  your  own  horse  with  corn  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"  No,  we  can't  afford  it,"  he  replied ;  "  but  if  you  are  goin' 
to  Sioux  City,  your  nag  will  need  something  stronger  than 
grass." 

Returning  to  the  cabin,  we  found  the  breakfast  cleared 
away  and  the  squaw  chopping  wood. 

I  talked  an  hour  with  my  new-found  friend,  and  then,  sad 
dling  my  pony,  proposed  to  be  off.  I  wanted  to  pay  my  host 
for  what  I  had  received  from  him,  but  the  kind-hearted  man 
refused,  saying  to  me :  "  Keep  your  money,  young  man,  for 
you  will  need  it.  We  never  charge  here  for  what  little  we 
have  to  give  travelers." 

Cordially  thanking  him  for  his  hospitality,  I  spurred  up 
my  pony,  who  sprang  down  the  little  knoll  on  which  the 
cabin  was  built,  and  galloped  over  the  prairie.  It  was  a 
bright  morning,  and  the  air  was  fresh  and  bracing.  Millions 
of  beautiful  flowers  covered  the  ground  for  miles,  and  their 
perfume  filled  the  air.  It  was  a  glorious  sight,  and  my 
pony,  seeming  to  partake  of  my  spirits,  went  forward  at  a 
rapid  pace. 


BELDEN  :    THE   WHITE   CHIEF  31 

It  was  high  noon  when  I  halted  for  an  hour  to  graze  the 
pony  and  eat  a  few  slices  of  dried  beef — the  only  lunch  I  had. 

At  sundown  I  reached  Sioux  City,  sixty-five  miles  distant 
from  where  I  had  started  in  the  morning. 

I  remained  at  Sioux  City  a  day,  and  learned  during  that 
time  that  the  Sioux  had  been  again  to  see  the  Yanktons,  and 
it  was  believed  the  Yanktons  were  going  to  war  against  the 
whites.  Noi  a  little  dismayed  at  this  intelligence,  I  set  for 
ward,  and  after  two  days'  hard  riding  arrived  at  Fort  Randall. 
I  had  seen  some  Indian  squaws  on  the  road,  going  to  Yankton, 
on  the  Missouri,  to  trade,  but  being  ignorant  of  the  Indian 
tongue  could  not  converse  with  them. 

At  Randall  I  found  a  Frenchman,  named  La  Frombe,  who 
lived  with  the  Indians,  and,  joining  him,  we  set  out  for  the 
Yankton  tribe. 

In  one  month  after  turning  Indian,  with  the  aid  of  my 
friend  La  Frombe,  I  had  mastered  the  language  so  I  could 
speak  Sioux  quite  fluently.  I  liked  the  wild  life  of  the  In 
dians,  and  built  me  a  house  in  the  village,  composed  of  nine 
poles  and  ten  robes. 

I  had  now  been  in  the  village  nearly  two  months,  and,  as  it 
was  drawing  near  to  the  time  when  the  Indians  would  go  on 
their  fall  hunt  for  winter  provisions,  I  expressed  to  La  Frombe 
my  determination  to  join  the  hunt  and  remain  through  the 
winter.  He  said  it  would  be  best  for  me  to  regularly  join 
the  tribe,  and  offered  to  see  the  chief  about  the  matter.  I 
agreed  to  leave  all  to  my  friend,  and  do  as  he  advised.  Two 
days  later  Frombe  came  to  me  and  said  it  was  all  arranged. 
I  was  to  be  received  into  the  tribe  at  the  next  full  moon,  and 
was  to  have  the  squaw,  Washtella,  for  a  wife.  This  was  more 
than  I  had  bargained  for,  and  I  told  La  Frombe  that  I  did 


32  BELDEN  :   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

not  want  a  squaw ;  but  he  said  it  was  best  to  do  as  the  chiei 
wished,  if  I  remained  in  the  tribe.  It  was  two  weeks  yet 
until  the  moon  was  full,  so  I  promised  La  Frombe  I  would 
think  over  the  matter. 

Ope  evening  soon  afterward  Frombe  came  to  my  lodge,  and 
said  he  would  take  me  to  see  my  sweetheart.  I  followed  him, 
and  we  went  out  of  the  village  to  where  some  girls  were 
watching  the  Indian  boys  play  at  ball.  Pointing  to  a  good- 
looking  Indian  girl,  Frombe  said :  "  That  is  Washtella." 

"  Is  she  a  good  squaw  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"  Very,"  he  replied. 

"  But  perhaps  she  will  not  want  to  marry  me,"  I  said. 

"  She  has  no  choice,"  he  answered,  laughing. 

"  But  her  parents,"  I  interposed ;  "  will  they  like  this  kind 
of  proceeding?" 

"  The  presents  you  are  expected  to  make  them  will  be  more 
acceptable  than  the  girl,"  he  answered. 

I  did  not  feel  at  ease,  but  determined  to  follow  my  friend's 
advice,  and  obey  the  chiefs  wishes  in  all  things.  The  day 
of  the  full  moon  came,  and  with  it  my  nuptials  and  adoption. 
I  made  the  usual  presents,  and  received  a  wife  in  return.* 

La  Frombe  gave  me  a  nice  new  lodge-cover  of  tanned  elk 
and  buffalo  hides;  and,  pitching  my  house  in  the  midst  of  the 
village,  I  settled  down  to  the  business  of  a  warrior  of  the  first 


*  The  marriage,  funeral,  baptism,  christening,  and  other  ceremonies  of 
the  Indians,  will  be  described  in  a  chapter  devoted  to  that  purpose. 


BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  33 


CHAPTER   III. 

LIFE  AMONG  THE  INDIANS — MY  LITTLE  WIFE  WASHTELLA — THE  MEDICINE 
LODGE — A  CURIOUS  CUSTOM — MEDICINE  ARROWS — WHAT  THE  INDIANS  EAT — 
A  FAMILY  MAN — PLEASANT  EVENINGS — WASHTELLA^S  TALES — THE  ANCIENT 
YANKTONS — INDIAN  AMUSEMENTS — THE  BALL  GAME — HOW  IT  IS  PLAYED— 
A  SPIRITED  CONTEST — PREPARING  FOR  THE  FALL  HUNT — HOW  THE  INDIANS 
TRAVEL. 

I  HAD  not  lived  long  with  the  Indians  before  I  perceived 
a  jealousy  growing  up  in  the  tribe  against  me.  Many  of 
the  old  men.  were  my  friends,  but  the  young  warriors  hated 
and  despised  me.  There  were  many  reasons  for  their  dislike, 
for,  not  only  was  my  squaw  the  handsomest  woman  in  the 
nation,  but  I  could  run,  ride,  or  s^oot  with  the  best  young 
Indian,  and  I  did  much  of  my  own  work,  and  carried  wood 
and  water  for  little  Washtella,  which  the  young  warriors 
thought  was  a  degrading  thing  for  a  man  to  do.  But  Wash 
tella  was  one  of  the  kindest  and  best  of  women,  and  I  really 
liked  this  wild  maid  of  the  forest,  and,  as  is  common  among 
white  men,  I  was  willing  to  work  for  my  wife.  So  I  pre 
tended  not  to  see  the  sneers  of  the  young  Indians,  and  kept 
close  to  my  lodge,  for  Washtella  was  teaching  me  her  lan 
guage. 

One  evening,  while  lying  on  the  bed  in  my  teepee,  I  reard 
a  great  beating  of  drums  and  rattling  of  gourds  in  the  lower 
3 


34  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

end  of  the  camp,  and  asked  Washtella  what  it  all  ment.     She 
replied : 

"The  big  medicine  man  calls  the  warriors  to  the  medicine 
teepee." 

"What  for,  Washtella?" 

"To  make  arrows;  then  go  on  a  big  hunt;  kill  heap  buf 
falo,"  she  replied. 

Gathering  my  blanket  about  my  shoulders  (for  I  had  now 
ceased  to  wear  a  coat  or  vest),  I  strode  out  of  my  lodge  and 
made  my  way  to  the  medicine  lodge.  Arrived  there,  I  saw 
a  number  of  old  men  seated  around  the  walls  of  the  lodge,  and 
looking  very  solemn.  One  old  Indian  made  room  for  me  by 
his  side,  and  I  sat  down  on  the  ground,  crossing  my  leg,  and 
saying  not  a  word.  No  women  or  children  are  allowed  tc 
enter  the  medicine  lodge,  and  so  none  were  present.  We  sat  as 
silent  as  Quakers  for  half  an  hour,  the  drums  and  gourds 
meanwhile  rattling  vigorously  without.  The  lodge  now  was 
full,  and  a  great  crowd  of  Indians,  who  could  not  get  in,  were 
assembled  about  the  door. 

Presently,  all  the  chiefs  having  come,  the  drums  ceased  to 
beat,  and  the  medicine  man  (there  is  but  one  to  each  tribe) 
arose  and  built  a  small  fire  in  the  center  of  the  lodge.  Cast 
ing  on  some  brambles  and  a  few  light  branches  of  wood  as 
soon  as  it  began  to  blaze,  he  harangued  the  crowd,  telling 
them  it  was  good  time  to  go  on  a  hunt,  and  that  every  sign 
in  the  sky  and  on  the  earth  was  favorable  to  their  success. 
His  speech  was  pretty  long,  and  outlasted  the  fire,  which 
burned  down  so  low  he  had  to  rekindle  it  at  the  close  of  his 
oration. 

When  it  burned  bright  again  he  began  to  chant  an  invoca 
tion  to  the  Great  Spirit,  in  which  he  asked  blessings  from 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  35 

We-tou-ka  (God)  on  the  hunters,  the  game  they  killed,  and 
on  the  guns,  bows,  arrows,  knives,  and  ponies.  He  begged 
most  earnestly  that  the  hunters  might  be  permitted  to  find 
plenty  of  buffalo,  and  that  they  might  be  successful  in  killing 
them,  so  that  all  the  Indians  would  be  fat  and  comfortable 
during  the  coming  winter.  The  deep  solemnity  and  reverence 
manifested  by  the  Indians  while  this  prayer  was  being  offered 
up  exceeded  any  thing  of  the  kind  I  had  ever  witnessed 
among  white  men.  Not  a  sound  was  heard  within,  and  the 
crowd  without  stood  with  bowed  heads  and  outstretched  necks, 
anxious  to  catch  every  word  of  the  great  medicine  man. 

Taking  a  bunch  of  scented  grass,  he  strewed  it  over  the 
coals,  when  it  emitted  a  sweet  perfume,  which  completely  filled 
the  lodge  and  almost  .intoxicated  the  senses.  While  burning 
the  grass,  he  chanted  a  wild  song,  keeping  time  with  his  foot. 
At  length,  sitting  down,  he  tossed  blades  of  grass  on  the  fire, 
and  the  chiefs  and  warriors  arose,  and,  moving  to  the  left 
around  the  fire,  kept  slow  time  and  step  to  the  monotonous 
beating  of  the  drum,  which  had  struck  up  again. 

When  this  had  continued  for  some  time,  the  leading  chief 
laid  on  the  fire  a  new  arrow,  which  was  gaudy  with  feathers 
and  paint,  and  had  a  bright  steel  point.  Then,  the  next  chief 
in  rank  selected  a  fine  arrow  and  threw  it  in  the  flames;  so 
every  chief  and  warrior  did,  when,  seeing  La  Froinbe  cast  in 
his  arrow,  I  felt  badly,  for  I  had  none,  having  come  to  see 
arrows  made  instead  of  destroyed. 

I  noticed  that  I  was  observed  by  the  Indians,  who  kept 
going  around  the  ciicle,  although  every  one  but  myself  had 
cast  in  his  arrow,  and  I  began  not  only  to  wish  myself  cafe 
out  of  the  lodge,  but  to  wonder  how  I  would  get  out,  when, 
chancing  to  look  around,  I  saw  the  next  Indian  in  the  circle 


36  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

behind  me  was  the  old  man  who  had  given  me  a  seat  wheu 
entering  the  lodge.  I  passed  my  hand  back  to  him,  when, 
seeming  to  understand  what  I  wanted,  he  slipped,  unobserved, 
a  new  arrow  into  my  fingers,  and,  drawing  it  through  as  if 
from  under  my  arm,  I  advanced  and  threw  it  into  the  flames. 
The  pile  of  arrows  was  quite  high,  and  a  bright  red  flame 
leaped  up  nearly  to  the  roof  of  the  lodge,  the  dry  shafts 
making  a  crackling  noise  as  they  burned. 

All  the  time  the  ceremony  was  going  on,  the  medicine  man 
sat  by  the  fire,  muttering  to  himself,  and  casting  on  scented 
grass.  When  each  man  had  burned  his  arrow  he  left  the 
lodge,  and  another  warrior  entered  to  replace  him  in  the  circle. 
Seeing  my  arrow  consumed,  I  stepped  out  of  the  lodge,  and 
went  to  my  teepee,  as  did  the  other  warriors  to  theirs. 

It  was  now  quite  dark,  and  I  found  Washtella  waiting 
supper  for  me.  You  may  be  curious  to  know  how  we  lived 
in  a  wigwam,  and  I  will  tell  you.  We  had  no  chairs,  but  sat 
on  skins  of  wild  animals  laid  on  the  ground.  We  had  gourds 
for  cups,  and  platters  of  both  wood  and  tin.  For  food  we  had 
corn,  prepared  almost  as  hominy  is  in  the  States;  then  roast 
elk,  boned  buffalo,  roast  artichokes,  flour,  biscuit,  buffalo  tallow 
and  water,  and  fried  brains.  We  never  used  salt,  as  the  In 
dians  abominate  it.  At  first  I  could  hardly  live  without  it, 
but  soon  became  accustomed  to  fresh  victuals,  and  even  now  1 
do  not  use  a  pound  of  salt  in  a  year.  Few  Americans  appre 
ciate  how  much  salt  they  eat — salt  in  every  thing  of  food  kind, 
and  pounds  of  it. 

Coffee  and  tea,  Washtella  and  I  had  none;  but  we  had 
plenty  of  pure  cold  water,  and  I  can  assure  you  it  is  no  bad 
substitute  for  the  stronger  beverage. 

I  always  spent  my  evenings  at  home,  and  I  will  tell  you 


BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  37 

they  were  not  unpleasant.  While  I  shaved  an  arrow-shaft, 
Washtella  made  some  pretty  head-work,  or  braided  a  buffalo 
hide  with  porcupine  quills.  Then  we  talked;  and  Washtella 
told  me  the  curious  tales  of  her  people;  how  they  had  once 
lived  far  to  the  east,  and  had  a  great  war  with  a  fierce  tribe, 
who  drove  the  Yanktons  from  their  hunting  grounds  and  forced 
them  far  up  the  Missouri.  Then  she  told  me  how  the  tribe 
wasted  away  from  many  thousands  to  a  few  hundreds,  and  how 
their  towns  had  once  been  seven  in  number,  built  of  wood  and 
clay,  and  the  buffalo,  deer,  elk,  and  antelope  came  and  grazed 
within  sight  of  the  villages.  Once,  too,  there  had  been  a  great 
chief  in  their  tribe,  who  was  famous  in  war,  and  so  skillful  he 
slew  or  defeated  all  their  enemies;  and  his  name  was  so  terrible, 
that  he  was  feared  every-where,  and  his  people  grew  rich,  and 
had  many  horses  and  much  corn,  and  gave  laws  to  all  the  other 
nations,  who  made  presents  and  sent  horses  and  corn,  so  they 
would  not  make  war  upon  them.  But  the  chief  died,  and  then 
the  fame  of  the  nation  decayed,  and  nobody  feared  them  any 
longer  or  brought  them  corn  or  horses,  but  made  war  upon 
them  and  took  away  their  horses  and  corn.  So  my  dark-eyed 
3ompanion,  woman-like,  rattled  on  with  her  tongue,  now 
telling  quaint  stores  of  old  times  or  curious  legends  of  the 
lands  where  they  had  dwelt.  The  little  maid  was  always 
cheerful,  and  made  me  tell  of  the  great  towns  in  which  the 
pale  faces  live,  and  their  tall  houses  where  people  slept  far 
above  the  ground,  all  of  which  was  very  wonderful  news  to 
her. 

In  the  mellow  fall  days  we  walked  in  the  wood,  or  I  joined 
the  young  men  and  played  at  ball.  I  must  tell  you  how  this 
game  is  played  among  the  Indians,  for  it  is  curious. 

A  great  noise  of  shouting  is  heard  in  the    camp,  and   the 


38  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

young  men,  with  bat  or  club  three  feet  long  and  crooked  at 
the  end,  go  out  on  the  prairie  near  the  camp.  Having  found 
a  smooth  spot  they  halt,  and  two  of  the  youths,  by  common 
consent,  take  opposite  sides  and  pick  out  the  players,  first  one 
and  then  the  other,  until  enough  are  had. 

One  morning  I  heard  the  young  men  shouting  for  ball,  and 
I  went  out  with  them  to  the  play-ground.  The  two  chiefs, 
A-ke-che-ta  (Little  Dog  Soldier),  and  Ma-to-sac  (White  Bear), 
were  picking  sides,  and  a  number  of  Indians  were  already 
seated  facing  each  other,  and  bantering  on  the  game.  As  each 
man  was  selected  he  spread  down  his  buffalo  robe  and  sat  upon 
it,  facing  his  opponent.  I  was  selected  by  A-ke-che-ta,  and 
silently  took  my  place  in  the  line.  Presently  all  the  young 
men  who  were  to  play  were  selected,  and  then  several  old  men 
were  appointed  to  act  as  umpires  of  the  game.  These  advanced 
and  seated  themselves  between  the  contestants,  and  then  the 
warriors  rose  and  commenced  betting  on  the  game.  First  one 
warrior  advanced  and  threw  down  a  robe  before  the  old  men; 
then  a  warrior  from  the  other  side  came  forward  and  laid  a  robe 
upon  it ;  and  so  all  bet,  one  against  the  other.  Presently  there 
was  a  great  number  of  piles  of  stakes,  some  having  bet  mocca 
sins,  head-dresses,  bead-work,  ear-rings,  necklaces,  bows  and 
arrows,  and  even  ponies.  All  these  were  carefully  watched 
over  by  the  old  men,  who  noted  each  stake  and  the  depositoi 
on  a  stick.  If  you  did  not  wish  to  bet  with  any  particular 
warrior  you  laid  your  wager  on  the  big  pile,  and  instantly  it 
was  matched  by  the  judges  against  some  article  of  corresponding 
value  from  the  pile  of  the  other  side.  Thus  I  bet  a  hunting- 
knife,  half  a  pound  of  powder,  a  pair  of  moccasins,  and  a  small 
hand-mirror,  which  articles  were  appropriately  matched  with 
others  by  the  judges.  All  was  now  in  readiness  for  the  game 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  39 

to  begin,  and  the  parties  separated.  The  two  lines  were  formed 
about  one  hundred  yards  apart.  In  front  of  each  side,  twenty 
feet  from  each  other,  two  stakes,  smeared  with  paint,  are  driven 
firmly  into  the  ground,  and  the  object  of  the  game  is  to  drive 
the  ball  between  the  stakes.  Whichever  side  shall  first  force 
the  ball  through  the  opposite  stakes  wins  the  game.  The  ball, 
made  of  rags  and  covered  with  buckskin,  is  carried  to  the  center 
of  the  ground  between  the  combatants,  and  there  deposited,  by 
one  of  the  old  men,  who  then  returns  to  his  post.  The  judges 
then  give  the  signal,  and  with  loud  shouts  the  players  run  to 
the  ball,  and  commence  knocking  it  to  and  fro  with  their  crooked 
sticks.  The  ball  is  about  the  size  of  a  large  orange,  and  each 
party  tries  to  prevent  its  coming  toward  their  stakes.  ^N"o  war 
rior  must  touch  the  ball  with  his  hands ;  but  if  it  lies  in  a  hole, 
he  may  push  it  out  with  his  foot,  and  then  hit  it  with  his  stick. 
In  the  game  which  I  am  telling  you  about,  Ma-to-sac's  party 
reached  and  struck  the  ball  first,  lifting  it  clear  over  our  heads, 
and  sending  it  far  to  our  rear  and  close  to  our  stakes.  Then 
we  all  ran,  and  Ma-to-sac's  and  A-ke-che-ta's  warriors  fell  over 
one  another,  and  rapped  each  other  on  the  shins  with  their 
clubs,  and  there  was  great  confusion  and  excitement,  but  at 
length  one  of  the  party  succeeded  in  hitting  the  ball,  and 
sent  it  to  Ma-to-sac's  stakes.  Thither  we  ran,  but  no  one 
could  find  the  ball.  After  much  search,  I  discovered  it  in 
a  tuft  of  grass,  and,  bidding  one  of  our  men  run  quickly 
to  the  stakes,  I  hit  it  and  drove  the  ball  to  him.  Unfortu 
nately,  it  fell  in  a  hole,  and  before  our  warrior  could  get  it  out 
and  hit  it,  a  dense  crowd  of  Ma-to-sac's  men  were  around  the 
spot  and  in  front  of  the  stakes.  The  contest  was  violent,  so 
much  so,  indeed,  that  no  one  could  hit  the  ball,  though  it  was 
continually  tramped  over.  At  length  some  one  called  out, 


40  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

"There  it  goes/'  and  the  warriors  scattered  in  all  directions 
looking  to  see  where  it  was;  but  one  of  Ma-to-sac's  men,  whc 
had  called  out;  stood  fast,  and  when  the  crowd  had  scattered, 
I  saw  him  attempting  to  conceal  the  ball  beneath  his  foot. 
Running  against  him  from  behind  with  such  force  as  to  throw 
him  on  his  face,  before  he  could  recover  his  feet,  I  hit  the  ball, 
and,  seeing  all  Ma-to-sac's  men  off  their  guard,  with  the  aid 
of  a  young  man,  easily  drove  it  between  their  stakes,  only  a 
few  yards  distant.* 

The  judges  at  once  declared  the  game  was  ours,  and  many 
and  loud  were  the  cheers  sent  up  by  our  party,  in  token  of  the 
victory,  while  Ma-to-sac's  men  retired  sullen  and  disappointed. 
I  was  declared  the  winner,  and  A-ke-che-ta  thanked  me  for 
my  services,  while  the  young  warriors  gathered  around  and 
congratulated  me  on  my  success.  Then  we  all  smoked,  and 
went  over  to  the  stakes  to  receive  our  shares.  As  winner,  I 
was  entitled  to  a  general  share  of  the  spoils;  but  I  declined 
in  favor  of  the  young  Indian  who  had  helped  me  drive  the 
ball,  saying  that,  as  he  had  last  hit  it,  and  actually  forced  it 
between  the  stakes,  he  was,  in  reality,  the  most  deserving. 
This  argument  was  loudly  applauded  by  the  old  men,  and  the 
young  warrior,  who  had  not  been  friendly  for  some  time  with 
me,  was  so  touched  by  my  generosity  that  he  came  and  thanked 
me,  saying  frankly,  "You,  and  not  I,  won  the  game."  How- 

*In  this  game  every  one  must  keep  his  temper,  and  any  stratagem  is 
allowed,  so  the  ball  is  not  touched  with  the  hands.  It  is  not  suffered, 
however,  for  any  one  to  hit  another  over  the  head,  or  on  the  body  with 
sticks  or  the  hands,  but  if  you  can  upset  a  gamester  by  running  against 
him  it  is  esteemed  fair.  When  either  party  cheats,  foul  is  called  by  the 
opposite  party,  when  the  game  ceases  until  the  judges  decide  the  matter. 
If  it  is  a  foul  play  the  game  is  given  to  the  other  side.  No  one  thinks  of 
disputing  the  judges'  decision,  and  from  it  there  is  no  appeal. 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  41 

ever,  I  forced  the  general  stakes  upon  him,  at  which  he  was 
much  pleased.  I  found  that  the  stakes  had  won  a  saddle,  half 
a  pound  of  powder,  six  yards  of  wampum  beads,  and  a  hand 
somely  braided  knife-scabbard.  When  the  judges  had  awarded 
all  the  winnings,  among  which  were  fourteen  ponies,  each  took 
up  his  trophies  and  returned  to  the  village,  where,  for  the 
remainder  of  the  day,  the  game  was  fought  over  again  and 
again  in  the  teepees. 

It  was  now  four  days  since  we  had  made  buffalo  medicine 
(burned  the  arrows),  and  the  time  to  go  upon  the  hunt  had 
come.  The  chief,  on  the  fourth  evening,  sent  a  crier  through 
the  village  to  notify  all  to  be  in  readiness,  and  we  at  once  began 
packing  up  our  lodges,  mending  bows,  and  grinding  knives,* 
etc.  Poles,  like  shafts,  were  made  for  the  ponies,  and  fastened 
across  their  backs  by  broad  wampum  belts  at  the  small  ends, 
while  the  large  ends  dragged  on  the  ground.  On  these, 
behind  the  pony,  were  lashed  robes  and  bedding,  and  cooking 
utensils;  and  on  them  sat  the  children.  Even  the  dogs  had 
packs  to  carry,  which  were  tied  on  their  backs  with  thongs  of 
buffalo  skin.  The  squaws  walked  and  led  the  ponies,  having 
charge  of  all  the  property  and  children,  while  the  warriors, 
mounted  on  the  best  animals,  rode  ahead,  behind,  and  on  the 
flanks  of  the  column,  which,  when  drawn  out,  was  several  miles 
long — each  pony  following  the  one  in  front  of  him.  So,  we 
went  on  the  great  annual  buffalo  hunt. 

*  The  knives  of  Indians  are  generally  ground  on  one  side,  like  a  carpen 
ter's  chisel;  and  this  is  always  done  when  going  on  buffalo  hunts,  as  they 
are  less  liable  to  cut  the  skin  when  sharpened  in  that  way. 


42  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

OFF  FOR  THE  FALL  HUNT — WASHTELLA  AND  THE  PONY — INDIAN  SONGS — CAMP 
ING  OUT — A  STROLL  IN  THE  WILD  WOODS — SUNSET  ON  THE  PRAIRIES — 
WASHTELLA  AND  I — AN  INDIAN  FAIRY  TALE — THE  GIANTS  OF  OLD — WEARER 

OF     THE    WHITE    FEATHER — WHAT     CHACOPEE     SAW     IN     THE     WOODS THE 

WOODEN  MAN — BATTLE  OF  THE  GIANTS CHACOPEE's  TROUBLES — ALL  's  WELL 

THAT   ENDS   WELL — INDIAN  CREDULITY — AT  THE  HUNTING  GROUNDS. 

TT  was  a  bright,  clear  morning  when  the  whole  village  was 
•*•  aroused  by  beating  of  drums,  blowing  of  horns,  and  the 
barking  of  dogs.  While  the  squaws  cooked  the  breakfast,  the 
warriors  set  about  pulling  down  the  lodges,  and  soon  almost 
the  whole  village  had  disappeared.  The  few  wigwams  left 
standing  were  for  the  sick,  the  aged,  and  those  who  were  too 
infirm  to  go  on  the  hunt.  Bidding  good-bye  to  the  Indians 
who  were  to  remain,  we  set  out,  as  gay  a  party  as  ever  was 
seen  seeking  pleasure. 

Those  first  packed  were  first  off,  and,  as  I  was  one  of  the 
laggards,  when  I  pulled  out,  the  column  was  streaming  over 
the  hills  for  miles  ahead. 

I  had  two  ponies,  one  for  myself  and  the  other  for  Wash- 
tella  and  our  household  goods.  The  cha-a-koo,  or  saddle,  had 
been  fastened  to  the  little  pony's  back,  and  to  this  were  tied 
our  teepee,  or  lodge  poles,  three  on  each  side.  They  were 
fastened  by  the  small  ends,  and  the  large  ends  dragged  on  the 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  43 

ground.  To  prevent  the  poles  from  spreading  apart,  a  cross- 
piece  of  dry  wood  was  lashed  with  rawhide  just  behind  the 
pony's  hams.  On  the  poles  were  piled  our  bedding,  lodge 
covers,  and  cooking  utensils,  while  the  provisions  in  flesh-bags 
were  slung  across  the  pony's  back.  Some  of  the  families  who 
had  children,  slung  wicker-baskets  between  the  poles,  and  in 
these  were  put  the  papooses.  The  squaws  walked  and  led  the 
ponies,  and  the  dogs  and  larger  children  trotted  alongside. 
When  tired,  the  squaws  or  children  rode  on  the  pony  by 
turns,  and  one  was  on  his  back  all  the  time.  It  is  astonish 
ing  what  burdens  these  little  beasts  can  carry,  and  still  keep 
fat  and  lively.  I  have  frequently  seen  them  travel  hun 
dreds  of  miles,  loaded  down  almost  out  of  sight,  and  thrive 
every  day.  They  have  greater  powers  of  endurance  than 
the  mule. 

My  spare  pony  was  led  by  Washtella,  who  tripped  joyfully 
along  singing  her  Indian  songs.  One  of  these  ran  as 
follows  : 

"  Tish-ah,  bo  moak  sa-um 

Af 

Ma-mo,  za  na  geezing 
Ma-ino  zah  na  ahkee 
Ma-mo  yah  na. 

"  Bai  mo  sa  yah  na  geezhigeny 
Bai  mo  sa  yah  na 
Wa  bun  ong  tuz-ze  Kwai 
Ne  wah  ween  ne  go  ha  za." 

Which  might  be  rendered  thus : 

"  We  are  riding  to  seek  the  war  path ; 
The  earth  and  the  sky  are  before  us. 
We  walk  by  day  and  by  night, 
And  the  evening  star  is  our  guide." 


41  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

Another  was : 

"  We  devote  our  bodies  to  the  fight, 
And  charge  with  the  speed  of  eagles ; 
"We  are  willing  to  lie  with  the  slain, 
For  then  our  name  will  be  praised." 

Still  another : 

"  Look  how  beautiful  is  my  face  and  form, 
And  hear  the  sweet  song  of  my  voice  ; 
All  my  thoughts  are  of  you,  darling, 
And  I  speak  to  you  with  my  naked  heart." 

It  was  in  vain  I  urged  the  little  maid  to  ride;  to  all  my 
appeals  she  replied,  "  Never  mind,  pony  will  be  tired  enough, 
and  I  will  ride  him  plenty  when  we  find  the  buffalo." 

Our  first  day's  journey  was  only  fifteen  miles,  and  early 
in  the  afternoon  we  came  to  a  limpid  stream  where  the 
chief  ordered  us  to  halt  and  camp.  While  the  warriors 
pitched  the  teepees  the  squaws  brought  wood  and  water,  and 
soon  the  fires  were  blazing  and  the  kettles  boiling  for  supper. 
Leaving  the  preparation  of  the  meal  to  the  women,  we  hoppled 
our  ponfes  and  picketed  them  out  on  the  green  grass  near  the 
camp.  Several  warriors  remained  to  guard  them,  and  the  rest 
returned  to  the  village.  The  Indians  never  leave  their  horses 
or  camp  without  a  guard,  and,  no  matter  how  secure  the 
country  may  be,  they  steadily  keep  out  their  pickets  or 
runners. 

After  supper,  the  warriors  played  at  ball,  made  arrows, 
repaired  their  horse  equipments,  wrapped  the  loose  sinews  on 
their  bows,  or  gathered  in  groups  and  smoked.  The  women 
cleared  away  the  supper,  made  up  the  beds  in  the  lodges,  and 
carried  wood  and  water  for  the  morning. 

In  the  evening  I  strolled  out  with  Washtella,  and,  going  to 


BELDEN  :   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  45 

the  edge  of  the  \\oods,  saw  one  of  those  glorious  sights  only  to  be 
witnessed  in  perfection  at  sea  or  on  the  prairie,  a  glorious  sunset. 
A  great  red  globe  of  fire  hung  in  the  west,  sinking  slowly  and 
grandly  behind  the  hills,  lighting  up  the  horizon  and  clouds 
with  molten  gold.  I  gazed  long  and  earnestly  at  the  beautful 
scene,  and  stood  lost  in  thought  until  aroused  by  my  com 
panion,  who  said,  "  Let  us  return  to  the  lodge ;  it  grows  late." 
Through  the  gloaming  we  walked  back  to  the  village,  and, 
entering  my  teepee,  I  bade  Washtella  bring  me  my  pipe,  and, 
while  I  smoked,  tell  me  a  story.  She  brought  the  pipe,  and, 
seating  herself  by  my  side,  related  the  following  extraordi 
nary  tale : 

Once  there  were  giants  on  the  earth,  and  they  devoured  little 
children.  The  great  medicine  man  of  our  nation  told  the  chief 
he  should  bet  all  the  little  children  of  his  nation  on  a  race  he 
would  run  with  the  giants,  and,  if  he  beat  them,  no  more  chil 
dren  would  ever  be  eaten  by  the  big  men.  The  chief  was  very 
anxious  to  rid  himself  of  the  giants,  besides  it  was  evident 
they  would  eat  up  all  the  children  at  any  rate,  so  they  might 
as  well  be  bet  as  not.  A  great  council  was  called,  and  after 
three  days'  debate,  it  was  agreed  the  children  should  be  put  up 
and  the  race  run  with  the  giants  by  the  medicine  man.  All 
the  nation  was  present  to  witness  the  contest,  but  the  giants 
easily  won  the  race ;  so  they  demanded  the  children  should  be 
given  up  that  they  might  devour  them.  Now,  there  was  one 
old  man  who  had  a  grandchild  that  he  loved  dearly,  and  when 
the  race  was  lost,  he  took  the  child  on  his  back,  and  traveled 
for  many  days  to  the  west,  until  he  came  to  a  great  wood,  and 
in  the  depth  of  the  forest  he  built  a  hut,  and  hid  awly  the 
child,  hoping  the  giants  would  not  find  him. 

The  prophets  had  foretold  that  a  child  would  be  born  in  the 


46  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

tribe,  who  would  wear  a  white  feather,  become  a  mighty 
a  great  warrior,  and  slay  all  the  giants. 

The  old  man  kept  his  grandson  in  great  ignorance,  telling 
him  they  were  the  only  people  in  the  world  besides  the  giants, 
and  that  if  the  giants  found  them  out  they  would  kill  and  eat 
them.  The  boy  was  very  much  afraid,  and  hid  away  at  every 
noise  he  heard. 

One  day,  while  out  hunting,  he  shot  a  bird,  and,  as  it  had 
pretty  white  feathers  in  its  tail,  he  pulled  them  out  and  put 
them  in  his  hair.  When  he  returned  home  in  the  evening,  his 
grandfather  saw  the  white  feathers,  and,  remembering  what  the 
prophets  had  said,  he  knew  at  once  that  his  grandson  would  be 
a  great  man  and  destroy  the  giants.  But  the  old  man  was 
still  afraid  the  giants  might  kill  and  eat  the  boy,  for  he  was 
yet  a  small  lad;  so  he  did  not  tell  him  of  what  great  honors 
were  in  store  for  him. 

Not  many  days  after  he  had  shot  the  bird,  the  boy  was  out 
hunting  in  the  woods,  and,  as  was  his  wont  when  tired,  he  laid 
down  in  the  shade  of  a  great  tree  to  sleep;  and  as  he  slept,  he 
heard  a  voice,  saying,  "Go  home,  you  wearer  of  the  white 
feather,  and  when  you  sleep,  you  will  dream  of  a  pipe  and  sack 
with  a  great  white  feather,  and  when  you  wake  up  you  will  find 
them,  and  see  that  you  keep  them."  When  the  boy  heard  these 
words  he  jumped  up  and  looked  whence  the  voice  proceeded, 
and  saw  a  wooden  man  fixed  firmly  in  the  earth.  He  was 
greatly  astonished,  for  he  did  not  know  there  were  any  men  in 
the  world  beside  his  grandfather.  So  he  ran  home  and  slept, 
and  sure  enough  he  dreamed  he  saw  a  pipe  and  sack,  and  a 
great  white  feather  in  it;  and  when  he  waked  up  the  articles 
were  there.  He  had  told  his  grandfather  all  about  his  dream 
in  the  wood,  and  at  once  accused  him  of  putting  the  sack  and 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  47 

pipe  with  the  feather  by  his  bed  while  he  slept.  But  the  old 
man  would  only  answer,  "Put  the  feather  in  your  hair,  and 
you  will  one  day  become  a  great  man  and  destroy  all  your 
enemies."  So  the  boy  braided  the  feather  in  his  hair,  and  im 
mediately  he  felt  very  strong,  and,  to  see  if  his  strength  was  real, 
he  went  out  and  easily  overthrew  a  great  tree,  and  he  became 
very  proud  of  his  strength.  Next  day  he  said  to  himself,  Now 
that  I  am  so  strong  I  will  go  out  and  pull  up  the  wooden  man 
and  bring  him  home,  so  that  I  can  talk  with  him.  And  he 
went  to  the  wooden  man  in  the  forest,  and  tried  to  pull  him  up ; 
but,  although  he  could  uproot  great  trees,  he  could  not  get  the 
wooden  man  out  of  the  ground;  whereat  he  got  very  angry, 
and  struck  the  man  in  the  face,  but  only  hurt  himself,  for  the 
man  had  an  iron  head.  The  wooden  man  laughed  heartily  at 
his  rage,  and  said  to  the  boy,  "See,  my  son,  strength  is  not 
the  only  thing  wo  must  have  in  the  world,  and,  in  a  man  or  a 
nation,  it  is  of  little  use  without  wisdom ;  now,  if  you  will  dig 
about  me,  you  can  easily  lift  me."  Then  he  dug  about  the  man 
and  lifted  him  out,  and  carried  him  home  on  his  back.  When 
the  old  man  saw  the  wooden  man  he  fell  to  the  earth  on  his 
face,  and  was  mightily  afraid,  for  he  knew  it  was  the  god  the 
giants  had  stolen  when  they  overcome  his  nation,  since  which 
time  no  luck  had  come  to  his  people.  The  boy  bade  his  grand 
father  get  up  and  tell  why  he  was  afraid.  Then  the  old  man 
said,  "My  son,  whatever  you  wish  will  be  so,  for  this  is  the 
all-powerful  god  the  giants  stole  and  hid  away."  The  young 
man  at  once  lighted  his  pipe  and  wished  for  some  pigeons  for 
his  dinner,  and  immediately  great  flocks  issued  from  the  smoke 
of  his  pipe ;  then  he  wished  for  some  rabbits,  and  hundreds  of 
them  came  jumping  out  of  the  woods.  He  took  good  care  of 
his  pipe  and  the  wooden  man,  and  wore  his  white  feather,  and 


48  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

lived  in  the  wood  with  his  grandfather  until  he  grew  to  be  a 
tall  man. 

One  day  the  wooden  man  said  to  the  boy,  who  was  now  called 
Chacopee,  "You  are  big  and  strong;  go,  slay  the  giants,  but  be 
not  foolish,  for  wisdom,  and  not  strength,  must  win  the  victory. 
If  you  think  of  nothing  else  until  it  is  done,  you  will  kill  all 
the  giants.  Go  and  be  wise." 

Early  the  next  morning  the  young  man  set  off  alone,  and 
after  traveling  a  hundred  sleeps  he  came  to  the  land  of  the 
giants.  When  they  saw  him  and  observed  that  he  wore  a  white 
feather  in  his  hair,  they  laughed,  and  scoffingly  said,  "So  this 
is  the  little  man  who  has  come  to  kill  us  all !  Let  the  cooks  put 
on  some  water  to  boil  him  in,  and  we  will  soon  make  an  end  of 
him  by  eating  him."  "Come,  short  legs,"  cried  one  of  the 
giants,  "dance  us  a  jig  while  the  water  is  heating."  But  Cha 
copee  only  said,  "  If  my  legs  are  short,  they  are  long  enough  to 
beat  yours,  if  you  will  give  me  a  start."  "Agreed,"  cried  the 
giant ;  "  go  out  to  yonder  tree,  and  I  will  catch  you  before  you 
have  run  half  a  mile."  Then  Chacopee  walked  out  to  the  tree, 
and  all  the  way  along  he  thought  how  he  should  out-wit  the 
giant.  Unperceived  he  tied  the  grass  across  the  path,  and  cried 
to  the  giant  to  come  on.  So  the  giant  ran,  and  tripped  his  foot 
in  the  grass,  and  fell  to  the  ground  with  great  force,  which  so 
stunned  him,  that  before  he  could  rise  Chacopee  hit  him  on  the 
head  with  a  war-club  and  beat  his  brains  out.  Another  giant 
came  running  to  help  his  brother;  but  Chacopee  fell  flat  on  the 
earth,  and  the  giant  stumbled  over  him;  so  he  beat  out  his 
brains.  Now,  there  was  still  another  giant,  who  was  a  very 
wise  man,  who  had  the  power  to  take  whatever  shape  he  wished, 
and,  seeing  the  fate  of  his  brothers,  he  immediately  changed 
himself  into  a  beautiful  woman,  and  came  to  Chacopee  and  said, 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  49 

"  Come  and  be  my  husband,  for  I  love  you,  and  have  traveled 
a  long  way  to  marry  you."  But  Chacopee  remembered  what 
the  wooden  man  had  told  him,  and  at  once  lighting  his  pipe  he 
wished  himself  an  elk,  and  immediately  he  was  an  elk.  The 
woman  upbraided  him,  and  cried  so  bitterly  that  he  repented, 
for  she  was  very  beautiful,  and  he  wished  himself  a  man  again. 
He  became  a  man  at  once,  and  kissed  the  woman's  lips  and 
cheeks,  and  laid  his  head  on  her  lap  and  fell  asleep.  While  he 
slept,  she  took  the  feather  out  of  his  hair,  and,  taking  his  pipe, 
the  giant  at  once  became  himself,  when  he  called  in  a  loud 
voice  to  Chacopee  to  wake  up;  and,  on  waking  up,  poor 
Chacopee  found  the  woman  gone  and  himself  as  weak  as  any 
other  man.  So  the  giant  broke  his  back  with  his  great  club,  and 
then,  changing  Chacopee  into  a  dog,  bade  him  follow  him. 
Putting  the  feather  into  his  own  hair,  the  giant  and  his  dog  set 
out  for  the  north,  where  two  famously  pretty  women  lived  whom 
the  giant  wished  to  marry.  These  girls  were  the  daughters  of 
a  great  chief,  who  had  sworn  they  never  should  marry  any  one 
but  a  great  chief  who,  the  prophets  foretold,  would  come  from 
the  south  and  wear  a  white  feather  in  his  hair.  When  the 
giant  and  his  dog  came  to  the  village  the  giant  went  in  to  stay 
with  the  eldest  sister,  while  the  dog  stole  off  to  the  other  sis 
ter's  lodge  and  slept  beside  her.  In  the  night  the  younger 
sister  dreamed  if  she  took  good  care  of  the  dog  she  would 
become  a  great  chief's  wife,  far  greater  than  he  of  the  white 
feather.  Next  morning  she  would  not  look  at  the  giant,  but 
walked  out  of  the  village  followed  by  the  dog,  and  when  they 
were  alone  the  dog  ran  to  the  brook  and  took  up  a  stone  in  his 
mouth,  which  immediately  became  a  beaver,  and  the  chief's 
daughter  took  it  home  for  their  dinner.  The  giant  hunted 
every  day,  but  he  could  kill  nothing,  so  he  and  his  squaw  were 
4 


50  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

nearly  starved,  and  the  chief  was  very  angry  because  the  giant 
kept  his  daughter  so  poorly.  The  giant,  seeing  how  well  the 
younger  sister  and  her  dog  lived,  watched  the  dog,  and  when 
he  had  taken  a  stone  from  the  brook  and  saw  it  turn  to  a 
beaver,  the  giant  drew  out  a  stone  from  the  water  and  it  also 
became  a  beaver.  Greatly  rejoiced,  he  tied  the  beaver  to 
his  belt  and  carried  it  home,  where  he  skinned  it,  and  his 
wife  put  it  in  the  pot  to  boil.  But  when  she  took  off  the  lid 
to  see  if  it  was  done,  only  the  stone  was  there  which  her  hus 
band  had  taken  from  the  brook. 

The  dog,  finding  his  secret  was  discovered,  went  out  into 
the  woods  and  broke  a  dry  twig  from  a  bush  that  had  been 
burned  by  the  fire,  and  the  black  twig  at  once  became  a  black 
bear.  The  giant  watched  again,  and  seeing  how  the  dog  got 
his  game,  he  broke  a  twig  off,  and  immediately  it  was  a  black 
bear.  So  he  tied  it  to  his  belt  and  brought  it  home.  But 
when  his  squaw  went  to  get  some  of  the  bear,  she  saw  only  a 
charred  stick  tied  to  the  belt.  Then  the  giant  went  to  the 
chief  and  told  him  of  the  disgraceful  manner  in  which  his 
daughter  was  living  with  a  dog;  but  the  chief  said  it  was 
impossible  for  a  dog  to  take  game  as  the  giant  related.  How 
ever,  the  chief,  to  satisfy  himself  about  the  matter,  appointed 
several  young  men  to  go  and  see  about  it.  When  the  dog 
heard  this  he  told  his  mistress  by  bow-wows  to  sweat  him  as 
the  Indians  do  sick  people.  Then  she  built  a  pit  and  left  it 
open  at  the  top,  and  in  the  pit  she  put  the  dog,  and  put 
several  heated  stones  in  with  him,  and  closed  the  opening. 
So  he  sweat  prodigiously,  and  when  the  young  men  came  and 
opened  the  pit  the  dog  was  no  longer  there,  but  a  nice  young 
man  in  his  stead. 

Then    they  took   him   out    of  the    pit   and    brought  him 


BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  51 

to  the  chief,  but  he  had  no  speech,  and  could  tell  them 
nothing.  The  chief  called  all  the  wise  men  together,  and 
they  took  council.  All  of  them  smoked,  and  the  giant 
smoked,  but  when  the  young  man  smoked,  behold  great  flocks 
of  pigeons  flew  out  of  the  smoke.  The  wise  men  knew  by 
this  token  that  the  young  man  was  the  real  Chief  of  the  White 
Feather,  and  the  giant  an  impostor.  So  the  wise  men  smoked 
again,  and  then  took  the  white  feather  from  the  giant's 
head  and  put  it  in  Chacopee's  hair,  for  it  was  he,  and  im 
mediately  Chacopee's  speech  returned,  and  he  related  to  the 
wise  men  all  that  had  happened  to  him;  how  he  had  been 
raised  in  the  wood;  how  he  had  got  the  white  feather; 
how  he  carried  home  the  wooden  man  and  conversed  with 
him;  how  he  had  slain  the  giant's  brothers;  how  he  had 
been  beguiled  by  the  beautiful  woman,  transformed  into  a 
dog  by  the  giant,  and  brought  hither.  When  he  had 
made  an  end  of  speaking,  the  wise  men  rose  up  and  told 
the  chief  all  they  knew,  and  the  chief  ordered  the 
giant  to  be  beaten  to  death  with  clubs.  But  when  the 
warriors  came  near  him,  he  changed  himself  into  a 
wolf,  and  ran  away  so  fast  that  neither  the  warriors  nor 
the  dogs  could  catch  him.  Until  that  day  no  wolf  had 
ever  been  seen,  and  all  the  wolves  now  living  are  the 
giant's  children,  and  that  is  why  they  eat  little  boys  and 
girls. 

After  the  giant  had  run  away  the  chief  made  a  great 
feast,  and  married  both  his  daughters  to  Chacopee,  who 
took  his  wives  to  his  people,  where  he  brought  also  the 
wooden  man  and  his  old  grandfather,  who  was  still  living. 
And  Chacopee  became  a  great  chief,  and  had  many  brave 
sons  and  beautiful  daughters.  And  his  sons  still  rule  all 


52  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

that  country,  which  is  toward  the  setting  sun  and  along 
the  sea. 

Thus  ended  Washtella's  story  of  Chacopee,  and,  when 
she  had  done,  I  asked  if  she  really  believed  there  evei 
were  giants  on  the  earth. 

"Yes,"  she  replied,  "hundreds  of  lives*  ago  the  men 
and  women  were  all  as  tall  as  trees ;  but  they  have 
grown  smaller  and  smaller,  until  now  they  are  no  higher 
than  bushes,  and  a  hundred  lives  hence  they  will  be  no 
taller  than  the  buffalo  grass.  Then  they  will  go  into  the 
ground  and  live  like  rabbits." 

"Washtella,  tell  me  where  your  people  first  came 
from." 

"Long,  long  ago,"  she  said,  "they  lived  in  the  earth, 
which  is  hollow;  but  one  day  they  came  to  an  opening 
and  came  out,  when,  liking  the  outside  best,  they  staid  and 
would  not  return.  My  own  father  once  saw  the  hole  they 
came  out  of,  but  I  never  saw  it,  as  it  is  far  down  the 
Missouri,  where  the  white  man  lives." 

It  was  now  late,  and,  wrapping  ourselves  in  our  blank 
ets,  we  lay  down  and  soon  fell  asleep. 

Early  the  next  morning  we  resumed  our  journey,  and 
on  the  fifth  day  began  to  see  buffalo  warders.f  On  the 

*An  Indian  life  is  sixty-five  years. 

f  The  old  bulls  that  are  feeble,  and  whose  horns  are  dull,  are  driven 
away  from  the  herd  by  the  young  bulls.  They  stay  near  the  herd,  but 
not  with  it.  In  approaching  buffalo  these  stragglers  or  warders,  as  they 
are  called  by  the  Indians,  are  always  met  long  before  you  come  on  the 
main  body.  When  they  see  the  hunters  they  run  to  the  I  erd,  and  give 
notice  of  approaching  danger. 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  53 

sixth  day  we  came  upon  the  herds,  and  pitched  our  camp 
on  the  banks  of  a  pleasant  lake.  The  whole  evening  was 
consumed  in  putting  up  the  lodges,  for  the  winds  often 
blow  terrifically  on  these  lakes,  and  it  is  necessary  to  make 
the  teepees  very  strong.  Hundreds  of  buffalo  were  grazing 
within  a  few  miles  of  us,  and  every  one  busied  himself  in 
making  final  preparations  for  the  great  hunt  which  was  to 
begin  on  the  morrow. 


64  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  BEAUTIFUL  LAKE — KILLING  THE  FIRST  BUFFALO  ON  THE  HUNT — UNEX 
PECTED  HONORS — THE  GREAT  HUNT — HOW  THE  INDIANS  TAKE  BUFFALO — 
JERKING  THE  MEAT— PACKING  AWAY  WINTER  SUPPLIES— MOVING  CAMP— 

KILLING    BUFFALO     CALVES OTHER     MODES     OF     CAPTURING     BUFFALO— THE 

HUNT    ENDED — THE    BUFFALO   FEAST    AND    DANCE — RETURN    HOMEWARD— AT 
PEACE   WITH   ALL   THE   WORLD. 

WHEN  our  camp  was  pitched,  I  walked  out  along  the 
banks  of  the  beautiful  lake,  to  see  what  I  could  dis 
cover.  Its  waters  were  clear  as  crystal  and  full  of  fish.  Not 
a  boat,  and  perhaps  not  even  a  canoe,  had  ever  rippled  its 
bosom,  and  I  could  not  but  imagine,  as  I  gazed  across  the  blue 
expanse,  that  one  day  commerce  would  spring  up,  and  towns 
and  cities  be  built  upon  its  green  shores. 

Looking  to  the  north,  I  was  startled  from  my  reflections  by 
seeing  a  large  buffalo  cow  coming  down  to  the  water  to  drink, 
Hastening  back  to  the  village,  I  quickly  procured  my  Hawkins' 
rifle  and  ran  over  the  little  eminence  that  hid  the  lodges  from 
the  animal.  She  had  approached  quite  near  the  water,  and  was 
not  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards  distant  from  me, 
when,  hearing  a  noise  in  my  rear,  I  looked  back  and  saw 
several  Indians  running  toward  me  with  their  guns.  The 
cow  at  the  same  moment  saw  them,  and  turned  to  make  off; 
but  too  late,  for  I  had  drawn  a  bead  on  her  heart,  and  at  one 
shot  dropped  her  dead.  All  the  village  came  running  and 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  55 

shouting,  and  the  squaws  gathered  around  the  dead  buffalo, 
jostling  and  elbowing  each  other  as  they  tore  off  the  meat. 
It  is  the  Indian  rule  that  game  is  common  property,  and 
my  buffalo  was  soon  reduced  to  a  pile  of  bones  by  the  knives 
of  the  busy  squaws.  I  could  not  help  laughing  as  I  watched 
them  struggling  for  the  choice  morsels.  First,  the  skin  was 
carefully  removed,  and  then  the  muscles  and  gristle  cut  away, 
when,  just  as  a  squaw  was  about  to  take  the  coveted  part,  she 
would  be  rudely  thrust  aside,  and  some  other  squaw  would  take 
it.  These  exploits  were  received  with  loud  shouts  of  laughter, 
and  no  ill-temper  or  quarreling  was  observed  among  the  ex 
cited  crowd  of  women  who  surrounded  the  carcass. 

On  returning  to  my  lodge,  I  found  Washtella  in  great  glee 
over  my  good  luck,  and  she  explained  that  it  was  no  small 
matter  to  have  killed  the  first  buffalo  slain  in  the  hunt.  Pres 
ently  I  received  a  message  from  the  chief,  and  was  informed 
by  an  old  Indian  that,  having  killed  the  first  buffalo,  I  would 
be  entitled  to  lead  the  hunt  on  the  first  day.  Meat  was  brought 
me,  and  the  skin  or  robe,  which,  according  to  the  Indian  cus 
tom,  is  always  given  to  the  one  who  kills  the  animal.  So 
proud  was  Washtella,  she  did  nothing  all  the  evening  but  talk 
of  my  good  fortune,  and  I  could  not  help  being  amused  at  the 
boasts  of  the  little  maid.  Nothing  could  possibly  have  hap 
pened  that  would  have  given  her  more  pleasure. 

The  next  morning,  as  soon  as  it  was  daylight,  I  was  aroused, 
and  told  that  the  warriors  were  waiting  for  me,  to  lead  them 
in  the  chase.  Assembling  all  of  them  before  my  lodge,  I 
addressed  them,  saying  I  was  a  young  man,  and  lacked  experi 
ence,  but  if  they  would  allow  me,  I  would  name  one  worthy 
to  lead  them  in  my  place.  This  was  received  with  loud 
shouts  of  approval,  and  as  soon  as  quiet  was  restored,  I 


56  BELDEN:    THE    WHITE   CHIEF. 

pointed  to  a  young  warrior,  and  said:  aHe  is  a  good  man, 
go  and  follow  him."  The  warrior  I  had  selected  was  my  bitter 
enemy,  and  had  formerly  been  a  lover  of  "Washtella.  Ever 
since  my  marriage  he  had  abhorred  me,  and  omitted  no  oppor 
tunity  to  show  his  dislike.  As  his  animosity  was  well  known 
in  th°,  tribe,  the  honors  thus  thrust  upon  him,  by  one  from 
whom  he  had  expected  no  favors,  surprised  and  pleased  them. 
For  a  moment  the  brave  hung  his  head,  and  then  came  for 
ward,  and,  amid  the  shouts  of  the  warriors,  gave  me  his  hand. 
Feeling  unwell,  I  did  not  go  upon  the  hunt  that  day,  but  in 
the  evening,  when  the  party  returned,  my  old  enemy  came  to 
my  lodge,  and  as  a  token  of  his  friendship,  presented  me  with 
two  fine  robes  he  had  taken  during  the  day. 

On  the  second  day  I  went  out  with  the  hunters,  and  joined 
in  a  most  exciting  chase.  Under  the  directions  of  a  chief,  we 
deployed  at  wide  distances,  and  then,  closing  in,  surrounded  a 
herd  of  buffalo  on  three  sides;  and  as  soon  as  the  herd  began 
to  move,  the  chase  began.  Our  tough  little  ponies  bore  us 
swiftly  along,  and  soon  the  herd  was  hard  pressed.  Presently 
it  began  to  scatter,  and  then  each  Indian,  selecting  a  buffalo, 
followed  the  beast  up  until  he  had  killed  it.  It  is  astonishing 
how  fast  the  great  lumbering  animals  can  run,  and  although 
they  do  not  seem  to  go  over  the  ground  very  rapidly,  it  takes 
a  good  horse  to  come  up  with  them.  Their  shambling  "  lope" 
is  equal  in  speed  to  an  American  horse's  gallop,  and  they  can 
climb  steep  hills  and  get  over  rough  ground  faster  than  a  horse. 
They  run  with  their  heads  near  the  earth,  and  a  hundred  of 
them  will  make  a  mighty  noise,  resembling  the  rumbling  of 
distant  thunder.  The  hunter  approaches  from  behind,  and, 
when  opposite  the  beast,  fires,  aiming  at  the  spine  or  side,  im 
mediately  behind  the  fore-shoulder.  One  shot  in  the  spine  or 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  59 

heart  will  bring  a  buffalo  down,  but  it  generally  takes  from 
three  to  ten  balls  in  the  vitals  to  kill  one. 

In  the  second  day's  hunt  I  killed  seven  buffalo,  which  was 
considered  a  good  day's  work,*  only  one  other  warrior  killing 
as  many.  The  warriors  do  not  stop  to  touch  the  game  after 
it  is  dead,  the  skinning  and  packing  of  the  meat  being  the 
work  of  the  squaws,  who  follow  in  the  wake  of  the  hunters. 
For  this  purpose  they  have  pack-ponies,  and  two  women  will 
skin  and  pack  three  or  four  buffalo  in  a  day.  The  meat  is 
brought  to  the  villages,  where  it  is  cut  in  narrow  slices,  about 
an  inch  thick,  and  three  or  four  inches  long.  These  slices  are 
then  hung  on  poles,  or  stretched  on  small  willows  laid  across  a 
frame-work  of  poles.  The  meat  is  frequently  turned,  and 
allowed  to  remain  in  the  sun  and  air  for  three  days.  It  should 
be  covered,  or  brought  in  at  night,  and  must  not  be  allowed 
to  get  wet  by  rain  while  it  is  curing.  This  is  called  jerking 
buffalo,  and  is  a  simple  and  easy  process  of  curing  meat.  The 
pure  crisp  air  of  the  plains  soon  dries  it,  and  then  it  has  a 
sweet,  pleasant  taste.  I  have  known  climates  on  the  plains 
where  nearly  all  the  year  carcasses  could  be  hung  up  and  left 
without  spoiling  until  used.  Meat,  when  jerked,  is  only  about 
half  the  weight  and  size  it  is  when  in  a  raw  state.  If  soaked 
in  water  it  will  swell  greatly,  and  then,  unless  used  imme 
diately  will  spoil.  When  the  buffalo  flesh  is  dried  suffi 
ciently,  it  is  put  into  parfleshes,  or  wrappers,  made  of  raw 
hide,  cut  square,  and  which  will  hold  about  half  a  bushel. 
They  are  sewed  up  at  the  bottom  and  sides,  the  laps  at  the 
top  being  left  open  until  they  are  filled.  The  meat  is  then 

*  Mr.  Beldea  has  since  killed  as  many  as  twenty-three  buffalo  in  a 
single  day. 


60  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

laid  in  flat,  and  packed  tightly,  like  plugs  of  tobacco.  When 
two  or  three  layers  of  meat  have  been  put  in,  hot  buffalo  fat 
is  brought  and  poured  over  it  until  all  the  interstices  are  filled 
up.  Then  more  layers  of  meat  are  put  in,  and  more  fat  poured 
on,  until  the  parflesh  is  full,  when  the  laps  are  folded  over 
each  other  and  tightly  sewed  up  with  sinews.  The  meat  is 
now  ready  for  winter  use,  and  two  parflesh es  are  fastened  to 
gether  like  a  pair  of  saddle-bags,  and  slung  across  the  back  of 
a  pony  when  the  Indians  travel.  To  prevent  these  bags  or 
wrappers  from  hurting  the  ponies'  backs,  the  under  side  is 
lined  with  fur  or  bear  skin. 

We  had  hunted  four  days  from  our  camp  on  the  lake,  and 
although  we  had  taken  the  utmost  precaution  not  unnecessarily 
to  alarm  the  buffalo,  most  of  them  had  gone  a  long  distance 
from  the  village.  A  council  was  called,  and  it  was  determined 
we  should  go  over  to  the  lakes  that  lay  on  the  Jim  River, 
sixty  miles  distant.  We  immediately  set  out,  moving  around 
the  lake  to  the  right  of  the  buffalo,  so  as  not  to  disturb  them. 
Our  route  lay  across  a  beautiful  level  country,  through  which 
meandered  little  streams  eight  or  ten  miles  apart.  These 
streams  are  unwooded,  and  we  were  compelled  to  use  buffalo- 
chips  for  cooking.  We  traveled  leisurely  along,  however, 
halting  on  the  creeks,  and  making  about  sixteen  miles  per 
day,  for  many  of  our  ponies  were  already  heavily  laden  with 
meat. 

On  the  fourth  day  we  reached  the  lakes,  and  again  pitched 
our  village.  Here  we  found  plenty  of  buffalo  and  a  great 
many  calves,  which  were  very  acceptable  to  us,  as  we  wanted 
some  parfleshes  of  veal. 

We  hunted  four  days,  and  took  a  great  deal  of  meat.  Each 
family  had  from  three  to  six  parfleshes,  according  to  its  size, 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  61 

which  was  as  much  as  it  could  use  during  the  winter,  and 
enough  for  the  infirm  besides.  So  the  hunt  was  announced  at 
an  end,  and  we  began  to  prepare  for  our  return.  I  had  been 
exceedingly  fortunate,  and  had  taken  no  less  than  nine  par- 
*lesher  of  meat  and  had  twelve  robes. 

There  are  several  methods  of  killing  buffalo  beside  the  reg 
ular  chase.  One  of  these,  as  practiced  by  the  Indians,  is  as 
follows : 

The  buffalo  are  watched  until  they  graze  near  a  precipice, 
when  two  or  three  Indians  put  a  buffalo  skin  on  sticks,  and, 
concealing  themselves  under  it,  approach  near  the  herd  slowly, 
as  if  grazing.  This  must  be  done  when  the  wind  is  favorable, 
and  blowing  from  the  buffalo.  If  the  decoy  is  successful,  other 
Indians  make  a  wide  circuit,  surrounding  the  herd  on  all  sides, 
except  that  toward  the  bluff.  Then  they  steal  up  as  close  as 
possible,  and  when  the  buffalo  discover  them  they  shout,  shake 
their  blankets  and  poles,  and  close  in  upon  the  herd.  The 
animals  are  greatly  alarmed,  but  seeing  the  mock  buffalo  (which 
has  managed  to  attract  attention)  set  off  for  the  bluffs,  they 
rush  madly  after  it.  When  the  baiters  reach  the  bluff,  they 
fling  the  mock  buffalo  over  the  precipice,  and  betake  themselves 
to  holes  in  the  bank  or  crevices  among  the  rocks.  It  is  in 
vain  the  leaders  of  the  herd  halt  when  they  see  the  chasm ;  the 
mass  from  behind,  crazed  by  the  poles  and  blankets  of  the 
Indians,  who  are  now  close  upon  them,  rush  madly  on,  and 
press  those  in  front  over  the  cliff. 

It  is  exceedingly  dangerous  to  bait  buffalo,  as  the  herd  fre 
quently  overtake  the  false  buffalo,  and  trample  it  beneath  their 
leet,  or  the  great  beasts,  falling  among  the  rock,  crush  the 
Indian  baiters  to  death.  Many  reckless  young  Indians,  who 
as  baiters  have  gone  too  far  inland,  have,  after  the  chase,  been 


62  BELDEN  :    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

found  dead  on  the  plain,  or  their  mangled  bodies  lay  at  the 
foot  of  the  precipice  with  the  carcasses  of  the  animals  they 
had  so  cruelly  deceived.  It  takes  a  brave  Indian  to  be  a 
baiter,  but  there  are  always  plenty  of  young  and  foolish  boys 
who  are  anxious  to  engage  in  the  dangerous  sport. 

After  the  buffalo  have  fallen  and  killed  or  maimed  them 
selves,  a  party  of  Indians  who  have  been  concealed  near  the 
foot  of  the  precipice  suddenly  advance  and  finish  them  with 
axes  or  rifles.  As  many  as  a  hundred  animals  are  frequently 
taken  in  a  single  day  in  the  way  I  have  related. 

Another  method  of  capturing  buffalo  is  in  this  wise :  When 
the  Indians  have  been  engaged  at  war,  or,  for  any  reason,  have 
not  been  fortunate  in  securing,  during  the  fall,  a  supply  of  meat 
for  winter,  they  go  to  a  lake  or  river  where  there  is  game,  and 
crossing  the  country  in  a  wide  circuit,  fire  the  prairie.  The 
buffalo,  alarmed  by  the  fire,  and  finding  themselves  surrounded 
by  flames,  plunge  into  the  water,  when  the  Indians  easily  kill 
them.  Another  way  is  to  drive  them  on  the  ice,  where  they 
slip  and  fall,  while  the  Indians  can  run  rapidly  in  their  moc 
casins  on  the  ice. 

When  the  Indians  get  out  of  provisions  in  the  winter,  early 
in  the  spring  they  will  fire  the  grass  on  the  opposite  side  of  a 
river  from  where,  the  buffalo  are  grazing,  and  the  buffalo  are 
tempted  to  cross  the  ice  in  search  of  the  green  grass  which 
springs  up  immediately  after  the  fire.  The  ice,  being  already 
soft,  breaks  beneath  their  great  weight,  and  the  animals  are 
drowned  or  killed.  Sometimes  a  large  buffalo  will  get  on  a 
great  cake  of  ice  and  float  down  the  river,  when  the  Indians 
will  kill  him  and  tow  him  ashore.  It  is  wonderful  how  the 
Indians  can  run  on  the  floating  ice.  They  will  frequently 
press  a  piece  no  more  than  a  foot  square,  and  yet  cross  in 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  63 

» 

safety.  Their  moccasins  render  their  footing  sure,  and  they 
spring  lightly  from  one  cake  to  another,  never  halting  for  a 
moment,  for  to  halt  is  to  go  down. 

Our  hunt  having  ended,  the  chief  ordered  that  the  usual 
feast  and  rejoicing  should  take  place.  A  long  pole  was  pro 
vided,  a  buffalo  head  put  on  the  top  of  it,  and  a  number  of  tails 
nailed,  at  right  angles,  to  the  sides.  The  pole  was  then  set 
firmly  in  the  ground,  in  the  center  of  an  open  space  before  the 
village,  and  buffalo  heads  were  piled  up  around  it.  The  heads 
were  set  in  a  circle,  and  arranged  to  look  as  hideously  as  possi 
ble.  Immense  quantities  of  buffalo  meat  were  now  brought, 
and  the  feast  made  ready.  Nothing  but  buffalo  meat  is  eaten, 
and  every  one  makes  it  a  point  to  gorge  himself  to  the  fullest 
extent.  Even  the  dogs  are  stuffed,  and  the  women  and  children 
persuaded  to  eat  while  they  can  force  down  a  bite.  The  greater 
the  quantity  of  meat  eaten,  the  greater  the  honor ;  and  some  starve 
themselves  for  two  or  three  days  in  advance,  in  order  to  do  jus 
tice  to  the  occasion.  The  meat  is  prepared  in  every  form — 
boiled,  fried,  broiled,  roasted,  and  raw.  When  one  is  full,  he 
goes  to  the  pole,  and  as  soon  as  a  sufficient  number  have  col 
lected,  the  dance  begins.  The  warriors  sit  in  a  circle  around 
the  pole,  and  the  squaws,  gaudily  dressed  and  painted,  form  a 
circle  around  the  warriors.  At  a  signal  the  drums  beat,  and 
all  rise  and  stand.  Then  the  squaws  sing,  and  the  warriors 
move  around  to  the  right  and  the  squaws  to  the  left,  each 
keeping  time  to  the  drums  with  their  feet.  The  dance  is  a 
slow,  shuffling  motion,  but  soon  makes  one  very  tired.  When 
a  warrior  or  squaw  gets^tired,  they  step  out  of  the  circle  and 
others  take  their  places.  As  soon  as  it  is  dark  wood  is  brought, 
fires  made  around  the  pole,  and  the  dancing  is  kept  up  all 
night.  The  feasting  frequently  continues  for  three  days,  and 


64  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

at  no  time  is  the  pole  without  its  set  of  dancers.  The  amount 
of  buffalo  consumed  is  prodigious,  when  we  consider  that,  be 
sides  the  vast  quantities  eaten  by  the  Indians,  each  family  has 
from  six  to  ten  dogs. 

Not  to  dance  on  such  an  occasion  would  seem  to  be  ungrate 
ful  for  the  good  luck  I  had  had  in  taking  meat,  so  I  joined  in 
heartily,  but  by  midnight,  was  completely  worn  out.  Calling 
to  Washtella,  I  told  her  I  was  so  tired  I  must  go  to  my  lodge, 
and  she  readily  acceded,  and  went  with  me.  Laying  down,  I 

immediately  fell  asleep,  but,  on  waking   at  daylight,  I  was 

/ 

surprised  to  find  Washtella  already  up  and  going  about  her 
work.  I  inquired  what  made  her  rise  so  early,  and  she  then 
confessed  that  as  soon  as  I  was  asleep  she  had  stolen  out  and 
gone  back  to  the  dance,  from  which  she  had  but  just  re 
turned.  Poor  child!  she  had  done  no  more  than  her  white 
sisters  often  do — that  is,  had  a  night  of  it — so  I  readily  for 
gave  her. 

The  feast  over,  we  began  to  prepare  in  earnest  for  our  return. 
The  meat  was  carefully  distributed,  so  that  no  pony  would  be 
overloaded,  and  every  thing  was  neatly  packed.  It  took  both 
my  ponies  and  all  my  dogs  to  carry  my  meat  and  lodge,  so 
Washtella  and  I  had  to  walk.  We  considered  this  no  great 
hardship,  however,  as  nearly  the  whole  village  was  on  foot. 
We  made  only  eight  or  ten  miles  a  day ;  but  at  last,  after  a  most 
fatiguing  march,  reached  the  Missouri,  and  entered  our  old 
camp  near  Fort  Randall. 

I  was  glad  to  be  at  home  once  more,  and  I  felt  very  comfort 
able,  for  I  had  made  a  good  reputation  as  a  hunter,  formed  new 
friendships,  and  won  over  some  of  my  old  enemies.  Indeed, 
why  should  I  not  be  comfortable  ?  My  domestic  relations  were 
most  happy.  I  had  an  abundance  of  winter's  food,  twelve 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  65 

robes,  and  Wasbtella  had  provided  me  with  a  good  supply  of 
tobacco.*  So  I  sat  down  with  my  favorite  pipe  and  was  at 
peace  with  all  the  world. 

*  The  cha-sha-sha,  or  Indian  tobacco,  is  made  of  red-willow  bark.  The 
squaws  gather  great  quantities  of  the  sprouts  or  small  limbs,  and  j.eel  off 
the  bark,  which,  when  dried,  is  broken  into  pieces  of  about  the  consistency 
of  Killikinick.  When  properly  preserved,  red  willow  is  equal  to  the  best 
Killikinick ;  and  when  smoked  has  a  sweet,  pleasant  taste,  and  emits  a 
delicious  perfume. 


66  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

INDIAN    DOCTORS — THEIR    IGNORANCE    AND    VANITY — PATENT     MEDICINES IN 
DIAN  GIRL  BITTEN  BY  A  RATTLESNAKE — THE  SAVAGE  MODE  OF    TREATMENT 

AN  OLD  INDIAN  PHYSICIAN — A  VERITABLE  ASS — HOW  THE  GIRL  WAS  CURED — 
WONDER  OF  THE  SAVAGES — THE  COUNCIL  AND  EXPLANATION— MODESTY  OP 
THE  INDIAN  DOCTOR — PRACTICING  MEDICINE  AMONG  THE  SAVAGES — A  BORE — 
T  GIVE  UP  THE  DOCTORING  BUSINESS. 

TNDIANS  have  the  reputation  among  white  people  of  being 
-*•  great  natural  physicians,  and  although  it  can  not  be  denied 
that  they  have  some  knowledge  of  herbs  and  simple  remedies, 
yet  their  claim  to  extensive  medical  learning  is  wholly  ficti 
tious.  Among  my  earliest  recollections  are  pictures  on  bottles 
of  well-proportioned  female  Indians  receiving  from  angels 
herbs  which  were  to  cure  all  the  ills  of  the  flesh,  and  the 
knowledge  of  which  some  venerable  chief,  while  on  his  death 
bed,  kindly  communicated  to  a  missionary.  Hence  we  have 
Red  Jacket's  Bitters,  when  Red  Jacket,  in  fact,  never  drank 
any  bitters.  It  would  somewhat  destroy  the  efficacy  of  these 
nostrums  to  inquire  to  what  church  the  missionary  belonged 
who  received  the  information  of  the  medical  properties  of  the 
herbs,  and  also  of  what  tribe  the  famous  Chief  Whang- 
doodleds  was  the  head.  We  shall  recur  to  this  subject  again, 
but  now  give  place  to  the  following  incident,  as  illustrative  of 
the  character  of  the  Indian  doctor. 

There  were  several  young  girls  who  came  nearly  every  clay 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  67 

to  my  lodge  to  talk  with  my  squaws,  and  one  day  one  of  these, 
while  out  gathering  brushwood  for  the  fire,  was  bitten  in  the 
arm   by  a  rattlesnake.     This  I  was  told  by  a  girl  who  came 
running  to  my  lodge  crying  bitterly,  and  saying  her  sister  was 
going  to  die.     I  asked  Washtella  what  the  medicine  man  did 
in  such  cases,  and  she  said   nothing  at  all   but    pray  for  the 
spirit  of  the  unfortunate.     I  told  her  to  run  over  to  the  med 
icine-lodge  quickly,  where   the  girl  had  been   taken,  and   tell 
the   "Great   Medicine   Man"   I    could    curt   her.     Washtella 
laughed  in   my  face,  and  said  she  would  not  dare  do  such  a 
thing,  as  no  women  but  the  immediate  relatives  of  the  afflicted 
were    allowed    to  approach   the    lodge    on   such   occasions.     I 
threatened  to  punish  her  if  she  did   not  go  instantly,  and   no 
doubt  thinking  my  anger  was  more  to  be  dreaded  than  that  of 
the   medicine   man,  she   ran  off,  but   soon  returned  to  say  she 
could  not  gain  admittance.     I  hastened  to  the  lodge,  and  on 
approaching  saw  several  poles  stuck   up  over  the  door  with 
charms  and  feathers  tied  to  them.     I  heard  a  great  beating  of 
drums  and  wailing  within,  and  while  others  stood  at  a  respect 
ful   distance    I  walked   boldly  up   to  the  door  and    entered. 
Within  I  saw  the  old  doctor  crouched  at  the  head  of  the  girl, 
who  lay  extended   on   a    buffalo-robe,   her  arm    bare    to    the 
shoulder.     Her  mother  was  seated  at  her  feet,  moaning  bitterly, 
and  rocking  herself  to  and  fro.     The  doctor  was  singing  vig 
orously  and   rattling  a  gourd  over  the  girPs   head;  then  he 
would  take  up  a  drum  made  of  raw  hide  and  beat  it  indus 
triously,  raising  his  humdrum  tone  to  a  shrill  key,  when  he 
would  resume  his  gourd  and  guttural   song.     So  intently  was 
this  learned  doctor  engaged  in  making  medicine  that  he  did 
not  notice  my  intrusion,  but  kept  on  with  his  chaunt.     Feel 
ing  that  I  was  standing  on   forbidden   ground,  and   making 
5 


68  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

myself  liable  to  a  severe  punishment,  if  not  death,  I  deter 
mined  to  act  quickly,  not  only  for  my  own  sake  but  the  girl's. 
Stepping  up  to  the  gray-headed  and  shriveled  doctor,  I  cried 
in  a  loud  voice : 

"Let  the  father  be  silent  and  hear." 

For  a  moment  or  two  the  sharp  rattling  of  the  gourd 
continued,  and  the  song  rose  higher  and  higher,  then  sud 
denly  it  ceased,  and  the  old  doctor,  rising  to  his  feet  and  draw 
ing  up  his  shrunken  frame  to  its  full  height,  demanded  : 

"  Why  come  you  here?" 

"  In  His  name  I  come, "  I  answered,  pointing  to  the  sky. 

In  a  moment  the  old  man  was  bowed  on  his  knees,  and  mut 
tered,  "How  is  this,  O  God  !" 

"Behold,"  I  continued,  "the  Great  Spirit  has  sent  me  to 
eat  the  poison  and  cure  the  girl ; "  and  so  saying  I  knelt 
down  by  the  side  of  the  poor  sufferer.  She  had  now  been 
bitten  some  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes,  and  already  the  swelling 
had  commenced,  and  two  small  purple-looking  circles  were 
formed  around  the  wound.  There  were  two  small  red  spots 
where  the  fangs  of  the  reptile  had  entered  the  arm,  and  I 
feared  it  was  too  late  to  save  the  poor  creature's  life,  but  de 
termined  to  try.  I  applied  my  lips  to  the  wound  and  sucked 
it  vigorously,  but  nothing  came  from  it;  then  I  bit  it 
gently  and  a  few  drops  of  black  looking  blood  came  out. 
Presently  it  bled  freely,  and  I  sucked  it  as  long  as  the 
blood  seemed  impure.  I  next  ran  over  to  my  lodge  and 
sweetened  nearly  a  pint  of  whisky,  which  I  fortunately  had, 
and  gave  it  to  the  girl  to  drink.  Then  I  heated  a  wire, 
and,  thrusting  it  into  the  wound,  cauterized  it  to  the  depth 
the  snake's  teeth  had  penetrated.  The  girl  held  very  still, 
and  never  once  moved  or  complained.  Very  soon  the  whisky 


BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  71 

caused  her  to  fall  into  a  deep  sleep,  and  I  left  the  lodge 
motioning  the  mother  and  doctor  to  follow.  They  had 
looked  on  with  feelings  of  wonder  and  awe,  and  when  we 
were  outside  I  said,  "  Let  the  maiden  sleep  as  long  as  she 
will,  and  when  she  awakes  she  will  be  well. " 

I  started  toward  my  lodge,  when  the  medicine  man  followed 
me  a  few  steps,  and,  seizing  my  hand,  said,  with  deep  feeling, 
"  Farewell,  my  son ;  I  am  sorry  for  you." 

I  asked  him  what  he  meant,  and  the  venerable  ass  then  ex 
plained,  that,  having  eaten  the  poison  from  the  girl's  arm,  of 
course  I  would  die.  I  said  I  hoped  not,  for  I  intended  to 
spew  it  up,  and  I  believed  the  Great  Spirit  would  not  let  me 
die  for  doing  as  he  had  commanded  me.  He  replied,  "  O  God, 
I  guess  this  is  good !  " 

"  You  bet  it  is,  old  donkey,"  I  replied  in  English,  knowing 
he  did  not  understand  a  word  of  that  language.  He  bowed 
deeply,  no  doubt  thinking  I  had  paid  him  a  great  compliment, 
and  departed  to  his  lodge. 

I  hastened  home,  and  found  my  poor  "Washtella  in  great 
distress,  for  she  had  heard  already  that  I  had  eaten  the  poison, 
and  of  course  would  die.  I  bade  her  be  of  good  cheer,  and, 
drinking  nearly  a  quart  of  rum,  lay  down  to  sleep.  In  truth, 
I  was  a  little  uneasy  lest  some  of  the  poison  had  got  into  my 
system,  but  hoped  to  neutralize  it  with  the  effects  of  the  rum. 

When  I  awoke,  the  morning  sun  was  shining,  and  a  great 
crowd  of  men  and  women  had  collected  around  my  lodge, 
curious  to  know  if  I  were  dead  or  alive.  My  first  care  was  to 
inquire  after  my  patient,  and  to  my  inexpressible  delight  found 
she  was  not  only  living  but  well. 

I  had  slept  many  hours,  but  the  effects  of  the  liquor  were 
still  upon  me ;  and,  after  smoking  the  great  medicine  pipe,  and 


•72  BELDEN  :    THE    WHITE   CHIEF. 

giving  thanks  to  the  Great  Spirit  for  my  own  as  well  as  the 
girl's  safety,  I  lay  down  again  to  rest. 

In  the  evening  I  went  out,  and,  knowing  the  great  desire  in 
the  village  to  have  the  particulars  of  the  cure  I  had  performed 
made  known,  I  desired  all  the  chief  men  to  assemble,  and,  when 
all  were  present,  gave  them  the  following  truthful  version  of 
the  affair : 

"As  I  lay  in  my  lodge,  the  Great  Spirit  came  to  me  and 
said,  '  A  young  girl  of  thy  tribe,  while  gathering  brush,  has 
been  bitten  by  a  rattlesnake,  and  I  desire  her  to  live.  Arise, 
and  go  to  the  medicine  lodge,  and  eat  the  poison,  and  you 
shall  not  die.  Tell  the  Great  Medicine  Man,  my  servant,  that 
I  sent  you,  and  he  will  know  I  did,  for  he  is  very  great  and 
very  wise.'  (Here  the  venerable  ass  nodded  complacently  and 
smiled  benignantly  on  us  all.)  So  I  went  to  the  lodge,  and  eat 
the  poison,  and  the  Great  Spirit  did  not  let  the  girl  die,  nor 
am  I  dead,  my  fathers." 

When  I  closed,  the  mighty  man  of  medicine  arose  and  mod 
estly  said : 

"All  the  brother  says  is  true.  When  he  came,  I  knew  at 
once  the  Great  Spirit  had  sent  him,  and  that  he  would  eat  the 
poison  and  not  die,  but  save  the  girl's  life.  Had  he  not  done 
so,  I  would  have  eaten  the  poison  myself;  and  when  any 
of  you  are  bitten  by  a  rattlesnake,  come  to  me  and  I  will 
cure  you." 

I  felt  very  much  like  kicking  the  miserable  old  liar,  but 
dissembled,  and  then  we  all  smoked,  gave  thanks  for  an  occur 
rence  so  wonderful,  and  adjourned. 

After  this  I  was  considered  a  great  medicine  man  in  the 
tribe,  and  all  the  halt,  the  lame,  and  the  blind  in  the  village 
came  to  me  to  be  cured.  I  was  bored  almost  to  death,  but  man- 


BELDEN  :    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  73 

iged  to  get  rid  of  most  of  my  patients  by  sending  them  to  the 
medicine  man,  who  had  become  a  firm,  fast  friend  of  mine. 

The  girl  I  had  cured  wished  to  marry  me,  but  I  declined, 
and  so  remained  a  great  lion  among  the  young  ladies  of  the 
village. 

NOTE. — Mr.  Belden  has  not  overstated  the  case  in  the  above  narrative. 
The  medicine  men  of  the  Indians  are,  as  a  general  thing,  among  the  most 
ignorant  persons  in  the  tribes.  The  credulity  and  superstition  of  the  sav 
ages  make  them  respect  these  impostors,  but  it  is  absurd  for  them  to  lay 
any  claim  to  medical  knowledge. 

At  Forsyth's  battle  on  the  Republican,  in  1868,  the  medicine  man  of  the 
Cheyennes  harrangued  the  young  men,  and  told  them  .to  charge  the  fort, 
for  the  medicine  was  all  right,  and  the  Great  Spirit  had  told  him  the 
bullets  would  not  hit  them.  He  also  said  he  could  catch  a  bullet  in  his 
teeth,  and  to  show  them,  he  rode  down  toward  the  fort,  when  one  of  For 
syth's  men  shot  him  through  the  bowels  and  he  died.  It  is  said  that 
these  men,  by  long  continued  imposition  on  others,  come  to  believe  their 
own  lies. — ED. 


74  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

INDIAN  HORSE  RACES — THE  SANTEES  GET  BEATEN — ANOTHER  EXPEDITION 
AGAINST  THE  PAWNEES CROSSING  THE  MISSOURI — WAITING  FOR  THE  SAN- 
TEES — THE  MARCH — THE  ATTACK — WOO-HOO-YAH-HOO — A  DISASTER — THE 
RETREAT — A  BATTLE — THE  WAR-CHIEF  WOUNDED — A  TERRIBLE  CONTEST — 
DEFEATED  AGAIN — THE  RETURN  HOMEWARD — PARTING  WITH  THE  SANTEES 
— MOURNING  FOR  THE  DEAD. 

C1OON  after  the  incident  related  in  the  last  chapter  the  fall 
^  races  began,  and  we  had  a  lively  and  exciting  time.  The 
Yanktons  had  pitted  a  number  of  fine  horses  against  the  San- 
tees'  stock,  and  the  whole  village  turned  out  to  see  the  contest. 
The  Indian  races  present  a  gay  scene,  every  body  being  in  their 
best  dress  and  feathers,  and  the  horses  gay  with  plumage.  The 
running  was  very  fine,  and  the  Yanktons  were  unusually  suc 
cessful,  winning  nearly  every  race  over  the  Santees.  I  had  a 
horse  to  enter,  but  the  Santees  objected  to  my  running  him,  so 
I  was  not  a  little  gratified  to  see  them  so  badly  beaten. 

Two  weeks  after  the  races  were  over,  time  hanging  heavily 
on  our  hands,  another  expedition  against  the  Pawnees  was  pro 
posed.  A  large  number  of  Santees  were  to  go  with  us,  and  the 
party  was  to  be  larger,  better  mounted  and  equipped,  than  the 
preceding  expedition.  All  being  in  readiness,  we  marched  down 
the  Missouri,  and  crossed  over  where  the  river  was  very  wide 
and  shallow.  The  crossing,  however,  was  difficult,  and  it  was 
with  much  labor  we  effected  it.  Each  Indian  tied  his  ammuni- 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  75 

tion  on  top  of  his  head,  and  strapped  his  gun  to  the  side  of  his 
pony's  head,  with  the  lock  uppermost.  Then  they  drove  the 
ponies  into  the  water,  and  taking  hold  of  their  tails  near  the 
root,  with  the  right  hand,  paddled  with  the  other  one,  guiding 
the  pony  toward  the  opposite  shore.  We  were  carried  by  the 
current  some  distance  down  the  stream,  but  landed  safely  among 
some  willows.  We  marched  inland  about  ten  miles  to  a  small 
stream  and  encamped,  building  fires  to  dry  ourselves.  Here  we 
remained  all  the  next  day,  waiting  for  the  Santees,  who  had  not 
come  up  yet.  Toward  night  we  saw  a  cloud  of  dust  in  the  west, 
and  soon  the  Santee  warriors  came  in  sight.  Another  day  was 
consumed  in  dividing  up  the  command,  and  assigning  to  each 
warrior  his  duty.  We  set  out  at  daylight,  and  on  the  following 
day,  at  one  o'clock,  found  ourselves  within  two  miles  of  the 
Pawnee  village.  We  went  into  a  ravine,  and  immediately  began 
preparations  for  the  attack.  The  guns  were  loaded,  forces  again 
divided,  and  all  prepared,  when  a  dispute  arose  as  to  whether  we 
should  attack  them  at  once,  or  wait  for  the  cover  of  night.  The 
Santee  chief,  who  was  the  senior  in  command,  was  in  favor  of 
an  immediate  attack,  urging  that  delay  would  be  likely  to  dis 
cover  us  to  the  Pawnees  and  defeat  our  designs.  I  did  not  wish 
the  attack  made  until  night,  for  fear  some  of  the  white  men, 
who  I  knew  to  be  with  the  Pawnees,  would  recognize  me,  and 
afterward  give  me  trouble.  My  little  party  of  fourteen  war 
riors  was,  however,  easily  voted  down,  and  the  old  chief  ordered 
the  assault  to  begin.  Eight  Indians  were  detailed  to  stampede 
and  drive  off  the  herd  while  we  held  the  Pawnees  in  check. 
We  had  no  idea  of  capturing  the  village,  but  hoped  to  steal  the 
herd,  which  was  the  object  of  the  expedition. 

The  Santees  attacked  the  village  on  the  west  side,  and  the 
Yanktons  on  the  north,  so  as  to  cover  the  herd,  which  was 


76  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

grazing  on  that  side  of  the  town.  The  surprise  was  complete, 
the  ravine  sheltering  our  movements  until  within  a  few  hundred 
yards  of  the  teepees;  then  we  dashed  tip  and  commenced  firing 
our  pistols  and  guns. 

Indians  do  not  fight  in  line  like  white  men,  but  scatter  out, 
riding  furiously  about,  and  firing  as  often  as  possible.  The 
Pawnees,  although  surprised,  were  not  dismayed,  and  soon  the 
fire  from  their  lodges  was  very  hot.  I  saw  men  and  women 
running  from  shelter  to  shelter  with  guns,  and  was  beginning 
to  think  about  falling  back,  when  I  heard  the  long  "  Hoo !  hoo ! 
I-Yah-hoo ! "  of  the  stampeders,  and  saw  the  herd  going  pell- 
mell  over  the  hill,  closely  followed  by  our  men.  I  immediately 
withdrew,  so  as  to  cover  the  herd,  and  was  soon  joined  by  the 
Yanktons,  who  were  on  my  right.  "We  commenced  our  retreat, 
and  all  seemed  to  be  going  well,  when  suddenly,  we  saw  a  great 
commotion  in  the  herd,  and  our  stampeders  came  riding  down 
the  hill,  closely  followed  by  a  large  body  of  mounted  Pawnees. 
In  an  instant,  the  Santee  chief  called  out  to  us  to  charge  them, 
and  we  did  so,  turning  their  right  and  cutting  off  about  one- 
half  of  the  herd,  which  we  drove  rapidly  about  five  miles,  when 
we  saw  a  cloud  of  dust  rising  in  our  rear,  and  the  Pawnees  were 
upon  us  again.  The  chief  ordered  the  captured  stock  to  be 
driven  on  as  fast  as  possible  to  the  hills,  and  halted  to  give  the 
Pawnees  battle. 

We  had  just  crossed  a  little  stream,  and  took  up  our  position 
among  the  brush  on  its  furthest  bank  from  the  enemy.  We 
paw  that  all  the  ponies  they  had  recaptured  from  us  were 
mounted  by  warriors,  and,  thus  re-enforced,  the  original  party 
of  Pawnees  greatly  outnumbered  our  own.  They  deployed  in 
a  long  line,  and  advancing,  began  the  battle  by  hurling  clouds 
of  arrows  against  us.  Our  war-chief  was  struck  in  the  shouldei 


Mourning  for  the  Dead. 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  79 

and  disabled  early  in  the  fight.  He  pulled  out  the  arrow  with 
out  even  a  grimace,  and,  riding  up  to  me,  turned  over  the 
command,  desiring  me  to  hold  on  as  long  as  I  could,  and  then 
fall  back  into  the  hills  near  by,  where  I  would  find  him.  The 
lighting  had  lasted  half  an  hour,  and  the  firing  becoming  slack 
in  front,  I  was  about  to  withdraw,  when  I  perceived  a  large 
body  of  Pawnees  on  my  left  and  rear,  and  almost  between  me 
and  the  herd.  While  one  party  had  been  holding  us  in  front, 
another  body  had  moved  down  the  stream,  under  cover,  and 
crossed  over,  completely  outflanking  my  warriors.  I  saw  the 
Pawnees  making  for  the  herd,  and  mounting  my  men,  we  ran 
for  it,  but  the  Pawnees  having  the  shortest  distance  beat  us, 
and  cut  off,  not  only  the  herd,  but  our  stampeders  and  war- 
chief.  The  Santees  were  much  concerned  about  their  chief, 
and  cut  their  way  to  him.  The  old  man  was  completely  sur 
rounded  by  Pawnees,  and  fighting  desperately.  It  was  with 
great  difficulty  we  extricated  him,  and,  although  hardly  able 
to  sit  on  his  horse,  from  wounds  and  loss  of  blood,  he  imme 
diately  resumed  command,  and  with  great  skill  withdrew  us 
from  the  fight.  The  Pawnees  fought  desperately,  being  deter 
mined  to  take  the  old  chief's  scalp,  but  we  carried  him  off, 
and  the  enemy,  having  now  recovered  all  their  stock,  did  not 
follow  us  far. 

Sadly  we  pursued  our  march  homeward,  and  on  the  second 
day  reached  the  Missouri.  The  expedition  had  proved  a  total 
failure,  and  we  had  lost  heavily.  Bidding  our  allies^the 
Santees — good-bye  (they  wishing  to  keep  up  the  other  bank 
of  the  river  to  their  tribe),  we  crossed  the  Missouri,  and  soon 
entered  our  village,  where  we  were  received  by  the  howling  of 
dogs,  beating  of  drums,  and  wailing  of  children  and  women 
for  their  dead  fathers,  brothers,  and  husbands. 


80  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 


CONDUCT  OF  GALLES-SCA — IN  TROUBLE — A  CONTEST  WITH  AN  [NDIAN — NEW 
EXPEDITION  AGAINST  THE  PAWNEES — ITS  FATE— THE  NEW  WIFE — GRIEF 
OF  WASHTELLA — DETERMINATION  TO  TAKE  A  JOURNEY — THE  DEPARTURE — 
ON  THE  MARCH — BEAUTIFUL  SCENERY — AN  INDIAN  BURYING-GROUND— 
TALK  WITH  WASHTELLA  ABOUT  THE  DEAD — SCENE  IN  THE  GRAVE-YARD — 
CURIOUS  INDIAN  CUSTOMS — HOW  THEY  BURY  THEIR  DEAD — SUPERSTITIONS — 
A  NIGHT  CAMP — THE  JOURNEY  CONTINUED — FAR  UP  THE  MISSOURI — IN 
THE  SANTEE  LANDS— HOW  WE  COOKED  AND  ATE. 


I 


HAD  been  in  the  village  but  a  day  or  two  after  my  return 
from  the  disastrous  expedition  against  the  Pawnees,  when 
I  was  made  aware,  in  more  ways  than  one,  of  a  growing  dis 
like  to  me  among  the  Yanktons.  First,  Shan-ka  Galles-sea — 
the  Spotted  Dog — who  had  his  lodge  close  beside  mine,  pulled 
it  down  and  moved  away.  He  it  was  who  had  told  me  to 
take  the  San  tee  robes  into  the  council  chamber  just  before  the 
raid.  When  my  friend  Galles-sca  abandoned  me,  I  expected 
to  see  all  the  rest  of  my  band  follow  his  example ;  but,  with,  the 
exception  of  one  other  old  Indian,  all  remained  steadfast.  I 
called  my  warriors  together,  and  explained  to  them  how  it  was 
the  fault  of  the  Santees,  and  no  fault  of  mine,  or  those  under 
my  leadership,  that  we  had  been  defeated.  They  seemed  satis 
fied,  and  advised  me  to  lay  the  matter  before  the  general 
council.  I  attended  the  council  at  its  next  session,  but  as 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  81 

i 

it  had  been    called  for  the    transaction  of  special  business,  I 
could  not  be  heard,  and  I  never  attended  again. 

One  day,  some  weeks  later,  I  was  told  a  party  of  young 
men  were  going  out  to  visit  the  Poncas,  who  live  on  a  reser 
vation  near  the  mouth  of  the  Niobanah  River.  From  the 
secrecy  used  in  their  preparations,  I  suspected  something  more 
than  a  friendly  visit  was  meant,  and  sent  my  brother-in-law,  a 
young  warrior  of  some  note,  to  find  out  what  was  going  on. 
He  soon  returned,  and  informed  me  that  the  party  was  going 
ostensibly  to  visit  the  Poncas,  but  in  reality  to  attack  the 
Pawnees.  I  was  cautioned,  however,  to  say  nothing,  as  some 
Santees  were  then  in  the  village  on  a  visit,  and  the  Yanktons 
did  not  wish  them  to  know  of  the  expedition.  That  day, 
much  to  the  gratification  of  our  warriors,  the  Santees  took 
their  departure,  and  the  necessity  of  secrecy  being  removed, 
the  expedition  was  then  publicly  talked  of. 

In  the  evening,  as  I  was  returning  home,  I  met  a  warrior 
who  was  going  on  the  raid,  and  who  I  knew  did  not  like  me. 
He  came  up  and  asked  me  if  I  was  going  upon  the  new  expe 
dition,  and  I  said,  No,  I  would  not  go ;  when  he  fell  to  brag 
ging  about  what  they  would  do,  and  told  me  I  should  go  and 
try  to  redeem  myself  in  the  eyes  of  the  tribe.  I  became  angry 
at  this  unjust  taunt  of  the  braggart,  and  made  haste  to  reply. 

"I  fought  the  Pawnees  as  well  as  any  Yankton,  and  better 
than  you  ever  will." 

He  laughed,  and  asked  : 

"  How  many  Pawnee  ponies  have  you  to  trade  ?  " 

"  More  than  you  will  ever  capture,"  I  said. 

"  Come,  now,"  he  replied,  "  you  can  go  with  men  this  time, 
not  squaws." 

"  I  had  rather  have  Yankton  squaws  than  you,"  I  retorted, 


82  liELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

i 

at  which  he  became  pale  with  rage,  for  it  is  a  most  deadly  in 
sult  to  call  an  Indian  a  squaw. 

Stepping  up. to  me,  he  struck  me  with  the  back  of  his  hand 
on  the  breast,  saying,  "  Go  away,  boy !  Go  away,  boy ! " 

"Stand  back!"  I  cried,  "or  I  will  strike  you  to  the 
earth." 

"  Does  the  pale  face  think  because  the  Yanktons  have  been 
kind  to  him,  he  is  their  equal  ?"  inquired  the  warrior,  with  a 
contemptuous  curl  of  his  lip. 

"  Yes,  and  the  superior  of  a  squaw's  man,  and  a  warrior 
whose  mother  never  allows  him  to  use  pointed  arrows,  lest  he 
hurt  himself,"  I  answered,  hotly. 

With  a  bound,  the  Indian  sprang  upon  me,  but  I  leaped 
aside,  and  gave  him  a  blow  on  the  nose,  which  made  the  blood 
spurt  out.  Blind  with  rage,  he  sought  to  grapple  with  tne,  but 
knowing  he  was  much  the  stronger  of  the  two,  I  kept  out 
of  his  clutches,  and  punished  him  terribly  with  my  fists.  In 
a  short  time  his  face  was  beaten  like  a  prize-fighter's,  and, 
making  a  furious  bound,  I  struck  him  in  the  stomach,  and 
laid  him  flat  on  his  back. 

The  fight  had  been  witnessed  by  many  of  the  warriors,  who 
sympathized  with  me;  and  when  I  had  knocked  my  antago 
nist  down,  they  set  up  a  great  shouting,  and  my  friends  took 
me  in  triumph  to  my  lodge.  Next  morning  I  sent  for  some 
whisky,  killed  a  dog,  and  made  a  great  feast  in  token  of  my 
victory. 

The  warriors  who  went  on  this  third  expedition  against  the 
Pawnees,  returned  in  a  few  days  completely  broken  down  and 
disheartened.  They  reported  that  the  Pawnees,  under  the 
leadership  of  a  white  chief,  named  Frank  North,  had  surprised 
them,  captured  some  ponies,  and  killed  one  Ponca  warrior,  and 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  83 

captured  another.  They  had  had  a  hard  run  to  save  their 
lives,  and  all  the  ponies  were  exhausted,  and  some  had  died  of 
fatigue  before  they  reached  the  village. 

I  was  glad  I  had  not  gone  on  the  expedition,  and  wished  to 
go  and  taunt  the  Indian  I  had  thrashed  with  his  misfortunes, 
but  my  friends  persuaded  me  not  to  do  so. 

The  summer  had  now  come  with  its  sunshine  and  flowers; 
the  grass  was  up  several  inches  high,  and  the  birds  caroling 
in  the  trees  overhead.  As  the  tribe  had  determined  to  remain 
in  camp  all  summer  and  eat  up  their  buffalo  meat,  I  concluded 
to  go  on  a  journey  up  the  Missouri.  I  had  so  far  overcome 
my  first  antipathies  to  Indian  wives  as  to  take  a  second  one. 
Polygamy  is  not  only  one  of  the  recognized,  but  one  of  the 
most  honored,  practices  of  the  Yanktons.  A  man  may  have 
all  the  wives  he  can  keep,  after  the  fashion  of  Brigham  Young 
and  his  latter-day  saints.  As  I  was  a  skillful  hunter,  and 
might  have  had  half  a  dozen,  whereas  I  only  took  two,  I  claim 
some  virtue  and  credit  on  that  account. 

My  second  rib  was  a  pale-faced,  slender  beauty — indeed,  a 
mere  child,  with  a  gentle  and  submissive  disposition.  Wash- 
tella  evidently  did  not  like  this  new-comer  to  the  lodge;  but 
she  said  nothing,  and  treated  the  young  squaw  with  respect  and 
kindness.  Often  I  saw  the  pain  and  grief  even  her  Indian 
stoicism  could  not  conceal,  and  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart  I 
pitied  her,  and  regretted  having  brought  another  to  my  lodge 
to  vex  my  patient  and  faithful  Washtella. 

When  I  had  fully  determined  to  leave  the  camp,  I  called 
my  wives  together,  and  informed  them  of  the  fact.  They  ut 
tered  no  words  of  comment,  for  what  has  an  Indian  wife  to  do 
but  obey  her  master?  My  warriors  were  next  notified  of  my 
intended  departure,  and  they  said  not  a  word.  The  old  chief 


84  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

spoke  kindly  to  me,  and  asked  whither  I  was  going,  but  I  only 
pointed  to  the  northward,  and  said  nothing. 

It  was  a  beautiful  morning  in  the  month  of  June,  when  my 
wives  pulled  down  my  lodge,  and  we  began  our  journey.  The 
lodge  cover,  and  all  our  effects  were  packed  on  two  ponies,  one 
of  which  was  led  by  Washtella,  and  the  other  by  Wacheata, 
my  second  wife.  I  followed  soon  afterward,  mounted  on  my 
horse. 

I  could  not  help  pitying  the  "ladies"  as  they  trudged 
along  on  foot  through  the  sand,  for  the  day  was  quite  hot,  and 
their  skirts  narrow  and  heavy.  Tilters  would  have  been  of 
great  comfort  and  benefit  to  them  just  then. 

At  noon  we  halted  in  a  grove  on  the  river  bank,  and  while 
the  ponies  grazed,  "Washtella  set  out  on  the  grass  a  repast  of 
buffalo  meat  and  ash-cake.  % 

I  asked  the  women  where  the  trail  we  were  then  travel 
ing  led  to.  I  cared  not,  so  it  went  northward,  and  away 
from  the  hostile  Pawnees. 

Washtella  told  me  that  not  far  to  the  north  were  the 
lands  of  the  Santees,  and  that  where  we  were  then  resting 
once  stood  the  village  of  the  Yanktons.  Not  a  vestige  of  it 
was  left,  but  on  the  hill  beyond  the  wood  I  could  see  the  bury- 
ing-ground. 

I  directed  Washtella  and  Wacheata  to  pack  our  kitchen 
furniture  on  the  poles  behind  the  pony,  and  we  would  go 
up  to  the  grave-yard,  for  I  wished  to  have  a  look  at  it. 
At  this  their  great  eyes  opened  wide  with  horror,  and  they 
held  up  their  hands  to  signify  that  they  did  not  dare 
commit  such  a  sacrilege,  and  so  I  bade  them  stay  where 
they  were.  Not  having  the  fear  of  Indian  gods  before  me, 
I  rode  boldly  up  to  the  hill,  and  there  saw  hundreds  of 


p^ 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  87 

bodies  wrapped  in  blankets,  buffalo  robes,  and  bark,  and  laid 
out  to  dry  on  scaffolds  made  of  poles  and  forked  sticks. 
These  scaffolds  are  seven  to  eight  feet  high,  ten  feet  long, 
and  four  or  five  wide.  Four  stout  posts  with  forked  ends 
are  first  set  firmly  in  the  ground,  and  then  in  the  forks 
are  laid  cross  and  side  poles,  on  which  is  made  a  flooring 
of  small  poles.  The  body  is  then  carefully  wrapped,  so  as 
to  make  it  water-tight,  and  laid  to  rest  on  the  poles.  The 
reason  why  Indians  bury  in  the  open  air,  instead  of  under 
the  ground,  is  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  their  dead  from 
wild  animals.  In  new  countries,  where  wolves  and  bears  are 
numerous,  a  dead  body  will  be  dug  up  and  devoured,  though 
it  be  put  many  feet  under  the  ground. 

An  Indian  grave-yard  is  a  curious  sight,  with  its  silent 
sleepers.  Here  was  an  old  fellow,  whose  scaffold  had  fallen 
down  at  one  end,  and  his  skeleton  rested  with  its  head  on 
the  ground,  and  its  bony  feet  in  the  air.  There  the  long 
black  hair  of  a  woman,  falling  through  the  decaying  poles, 
streamed  in  the  wind.  There  were  skulls  and  bones  all 
around,  and  flocks  of  ravens  screamed  and  wheeled  in  the 
air.  I  saw  stout  warriors,  old  men  and  old  women,  rest 
ing  as  peacefully  ar  if  they  slept  in  the  beautiful  ceme 
teries  of  the  East.  Maidens  lay  there,  too,  all  unconscious 
of  the  flowers  that  were  springing  up  on  the  prairies  around 
them,  girls  who  had  died  long  before  my  two  young  wives 
(who  were  then  praying  in  the  grove  for  my  safety)  had 
opened  their  seductive  orbs  on  this  world  of  glass  beads  and 
buffalo  intestines. 

I  noticed  many  little  buckets  and  baskets  hanging  on  the 
scaffolds,  and  when  I  returned  to  the  grove  I  asked  Washtella 
what  they  were  for.  She  said  that  when  an  Indian  dies  the 


38  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

body  is  carried  to  the  grave-yard,  where,  amid  much  smoking 
and  speech-making,  it  is  hoisted  upon  the  scaffold  and  left  to 
rest.  All  then  return  to  the  village  except  the  immediate 
friends  and  relatives  of  the  dead,  who  remain  to  howl  around 
the  grave. 

After  death  the  soul  goes  on  a  journey  to  the  happy  hunting- 
grounds,  where  there  is  plenty  of  game,  clear  streams,  beautiful 
groves,  pleasant  wild  fruits,  and  no  wars.  While  the  soul  is 
performing  this  journey  it  must  be  fed  and  have  drink,  the 
same  as  though  it  had  remained  in  the  body.  The  buckets 
and  baskets  I  had  seen  had  contained  food  and  water  for  the 
dead. 

I  asked  Washtella  if  she  was  sure  the  soul  ate  and  drank 
on  its  journey,  and  if  the  food  did  not  remain  untouched  in 
the  basket? 

She  replied,  "Oh,  no;  the  water  and  food  is  always  gone, 
for  the  dead  are  very  hungry."  I  looked  at  the  hundreds  of 
ravens  perched  on  the  scaffolds,  and  could  account  for  what 
became  of  most  of  the  food  and  water,  still  I  could  not  help 
thinking  there  were  lazy  Indians  in  every  village  who  got  the 
most  of  their  living  out  of  the  grave-yards. 

I  asked  Washtella  how  long  it  took  a  soul  to  reach  the 
happy  hunting-grounds,  and  she  replied  :  "  About  one  month  ; 
and  during  all  that  time  the  wife  or  nearest  relation  must  go 
every  day  with  a  fresh  supply  of  bread  and  water  for  the  jour 
neying  spirit.  When  the  dead  person  is  rich,  a  couple  of 
ponies  are  killed  and  buried  under  the  scaffold,  so  the  spirit 
can  ride  to  the  happy  home." 

I  asked  Washtella  what  the  Indians  did  when  there  was  no 
timber  to  build  scaffolds,  and  she  .replied  that  they  never 
camped  far  from  timber ;  and  if  any  one  in  the  village  died 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  89 

while  on  the  march,  the  body  was  packed  on  the  teepee  poles, 
and  carried  along  until  they  reached  a  grave-yard,  where  it 
was  buried. 

Having  finished  my  pipe,  and  satisfied  my  curiosity  in  regard 
to  the  mode  of  burying  dead  savages,  I  ordered  the  women  to 
repack  the  ponies,  and  we  resumed  our  journey. 

In  the  evening,  just  as  the  sun  was  setting,  we  spied  a  beau 
tiful  willow  grove,  and  turned  off  the  trail  some  distance  to 
camp  in  it.  A  stream  of  pure  cold  water  meandered  through 
the  trees,  and  we  pitched  our  lodge  on  the  green  grass  by 
its  banks. 

I  had  shot  an  antelope,  and  while  Washtella  dressed  it  and 
prepared  the  evening  meal,  Wacheata  put  the  ponies  out  to 
graze  and  erected  the  lodge.  I  sat  cross-leggerl  on  a  buffalo 
robe,  and  smoked  my  pipe,  having  nothing  else  to  do,  accord 
ing  to  Indian  custom,  where  the  women  do  all  the  work. 

A  more  beautiful  spot  than  our  camp  could  not  be  imagined. 
The  tall,  graceful  willows,  with  their  yellow  arms,  shaded  the 
greensward  from  the  sun  in  summer  and  broke  the  winds 
in  winter. 

After  supper  I  caught  some  fine  fish  out  of  the  stream,  and 
when  the  full  round  moon  came  up,  I  watched  its  bright  rays 
flit  and  dance  among  the  trees,  making  a  thousand  grotesque 
pictures  on  the  ground. 

Next  day's  journey  brought  us  near  Fort  Benton.  All  after 
noon  we  had  been  marching  for  many  hours  along  the  Mis 
souri.  The  valley  was  wide,  covered  with  luxuriant  grass, 
and  dotted  with  many-colored  flowers.  These  flowers,  though 
beautiful  to  the  eye,  had  no  fragrance.  The  river  banks  were 
fringed  with  a  heavy  growth  of  cottonwood,  willow,  and  dog 
wood  trees. 
•  6 


90  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE   CHIEF. 

At  one  time  this  valley  was  the  resort  of  vast  herds  of 
buffalo,  elk,  deer,  and  antelope,  and  their  skulls  and  bones 
still  lie  scattered  thick  on  the  ground  between  the  bluffs  and 
the  river. 

All  the  game  is  now  gone  except  a  few  antelope  and  deer. 

We  halted  in  some  cottonwoods  by  the  river,  and  the  squaws, 
gathering  a  supply  of  wood,  soon  had  a  supper  prepared  of 
dried  buffalo  meat,  corn,  'coon  fat,  and  ash-cakes.*  We  all  ate 
out  of  the  same  kettle,  so  the  dishes  were  easily  washed.  To 
eat,  smoke,  sleep,  and  march  was  the  same  to-day  as  yesterday, 
and  so  the  journey  wore  on  for  nine  long,  weary  suns,  when 
we  came  in  sight  of  the  Santee  village,  and  here  our  travels 
ended  for  the  present. 

*  Ash-cake  is  the  Indian's  bread.  It  is  maae  01  flour  mixed  with  water 
and  kneaded  into  a  tough  dough.  It  is  then  made  into  little  cakes  and 
baked  in  the  ashes.  The  Indians  use  no  salt  in  their  bread  or  any  of 
their  victuals. 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  91 


CHAPTER    IX. 


AN  INDIAN  VILLAGE  —  MIRAGES  ON  THE  PRAIRIES  —  THEIR  FATAL  DECEPTIONS— 
THE  ENCAMPMENT  -  A  SURPRISE  —  A  STRANGE  AND  BEAUTIFUL  PICTURE  -  THE 
WARNING  AND  WELCOME  —  LOCATING  A  TOWN  LOT  —  THE  SANTEES  —  CURIOSITY 
OF  THE  WOMEN  —  RESEMBLANCE  BETWEEN  WHITE  AND  RED  WOMEN  —  A  NOBLE 
PEOPLE  —  THE  MISSIONARY  —  PLEASANT  INTERVIEW  —  HOW  THE  INDIANS  BUILD 
THEIR  HOMES  —  MT  NEW  RESIDENCE 


can  have  no  appreciative  idea  of  an  Indian  village, 
unless  he  has  been  permitted  to  come  across  the  prairie 
through  a  hot  summer's  sun,  and  suddenly  discovers  one  nestled 
under  the  broad  shade  trees,  beside  a  clear  running  stream,  in 
a  green  valley.  How  pleasant  the  grass  then  looks;  how  re 
freshing  the  bright  waters,  and  how  cozy  the  tall  lodges,  with 
their  shaded  verandahs  of  thickly  interwoven  boughs. 

All  day  long  we  had  toiled  over  the  scorching  plain,  through 
clouds  of  grasshoppers  that  often  struck  us  in  the  face  with 
sufficient  force  to  make  the  skin  smart  for  several  minutes. 
Once  we  had  seen  a  mirage  of  a  beautiful  lake,  fringed  with 
trees  and  surrounded  by  green  pastures,  which  invited  us  to 
pursue  its  fleeting  shadows,  but  we  knew  all  about  these  decep 
tions  by  sad  experience,  and  pushed  steadily  on  over  the 
burning  sands. 

These  mirages  often  deceive  the  weary  traveler  of  the  desert. 
Suddenly  the  horseman  sees  a  river  or  lake,  apparently,  just 
ahead  of  him,  and  he  rides  on  and  on,  hoping  to  come  up  to 


92  BEKDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

it.  For  hours  it  lies  before  his  eyes,  and  then  in  a  moment 
disappears,  leaving  him  miles  and  miles  out  of  his  way,  and  in 
the  midst  of  desert  sands. 

Men  have  ridden  all  day  striving  to  reach  the  beautiful  river 
just  before  them,  and  then  at  night  turned  back  to  plod  their 
weary  way  to  ^here  they  had  started  from  in  the  morning. 
These  mirages  often  lead. to  death  both  man  and  horse. 

The  mirage  we  had  seen  was  most  delightful,  representing  a 
clear  lake,  with  trees,  meadows,  and  villages  nestling  on  its 
shores,  but  it  scarcely  equalled  the  reality  of  the  scene  when, 
late  in  the  afternoon  we  ascended  a  rise  in  the  prairie,  and  saw 
below  us  a  wide  stream  lined  with  green  trees,  and  on  its  banks 
a  large  Indian  encampment. 

The  ponies  pricked  up  their  ears  and  neighed  with  pleasure 
as  they  smelt  the  water,  and  our  own  delight  was  unbounded. 
We  halted  for  a  moment  to  admire  the  beautiful  prospect. 
Through  the  majestic  trees,  slanting  rays  of  the  sun  shivered  on 
the  grass !  Far  away,  winding  like  a  huge  silver-serpent,  ran  the 
river,  while  near  by,  in  a  shady  grove,  stood  the  village — the 
children  at  play  on  the  green  lawns  not  made  by  hands.  The 
white  sides  of  the  teepees  shone  in  the  setting  sunlight,  and 
the  smoke  curled  lazily  upward  from  their  dingy  tops.  Bright 
ribbons  and  red  grass,  looking  like  streamers  on  a  ship,  fluttered 
from  the  lodge-poles,  and  gaudily  dressed  squaws  and  warriors 
walked  about,  or  sat  on  the  green  sod  under  the  trees.  There 
were  maidens,  as  beautiful  as  Hiawatha,  or  as  graceful  as  Minne- 
haha,  wandering,  hand  in  hand,  along  the  stream,  or  listening 
under  the  shade  of  some  wide  spreading  tree  to  words  of  love, 
as  soft  and  tender  as  ever  were  poured  into  woman's  ear.* 

*  The  warriors  have  a  war-paint  which  they  put  on  when  they  go  to  bat 
tle,  and  they  have  also  a  oaint  which  they  wear  when  in  love;  it  is  called 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  93 

Near  the  village  were  hundreds  of  horses  and  ponies,  with 
bright  feathers  flaunting  in  their  manes  and  tails  as  they  cropped 
the  rich  grass  of  the  valley.* 

^  A  group  of  noisy  children  were  playing  at  a  game  much 
resembling  ten-pins ;  some  boys  were  shooting  at  a  mark  with 
arrows,  and  up  the  stream  several  youths  were  returning  home 
with  rod  and  line,  and  fine  strings  of  speckled  trout. 

Scores  of  men  and  women  were  swimming  about  in  the  river, 
now  diving,  and  then  dousing  each  other  amid  screams  of 
laughter  from  the  bystanders  on  the  shore.  Here  and  there  a 
young  girl  darted  about  like  a  fish,  her  black  hair  streaming 
behind  her  in  the  water. 

While  we  looked,  the  little  children  suddenly  ceased  from 
play  and  ran  into  the  lodges;  mounted  men  surrounded  the 
herd,  and  the  swimmers  and  promenaders  hastened  toward  the 
village.  "VVe  had  been  perceived  by  the  villagers,  and  the  un 
expected  arrival  of  strange  horsemen  at  an  Indian  encampment 
always  creates  great  excitement.  They  may  be  friends,  but 
they  are  more  often  enemies,  so  the  villagers  are  always  pre 
pared  for  a  surprise. 

Soon  men  were  seen  running  to  and  fro  with  guns  and  bows, 
and  in  a  few  minutes,  some  mounted  warriors  left  the  encamp 
ment  and  rode  toward  us,  going  first  to  the  top  of  the  highest 

the  "  love  paint,"  and  means  that  the  warrior  is  "  on  the  path  of  love,  and 
not  the  war-path."  Nothing  is  more  common  than  to  see  an  Indian  maiden 
seated  on  a  buffalo  robe,  under  a  shade  tree,  beading  moccasins  for  her 
dusky  lover. 

*  The  buffalo-grass  is  dry  and  hard,  and  seems  to  have  little  nutriment 
in  it,  but  its  stem  and  roots  are  filled  with  a  rich  sweet,  juice.  The  cattle 
and  horses  get  very  fat  on  it,  notwithstanding  its  brown  and  parched  ap 
pearance. 


94  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

mounds  to  see  if  they  could  discover  other  horsemen  in  the 
rear,  or  to  the  right  or  left  of  us. 

No  sooner  did  they  ascertain  there  were  but  three  in  the 
party,  than  they  rode  boldly  up  and  asked  us  our  business. 
I  told  them  who  we  were,  and  where  we  were  from,  upon 
which  they  cordially  invited  us  to  the  village. 

As  we  approached,  men,  women  and  children  poured  out  of 
the  encampment  to  look  at  the  strangers,  and  having  satisfied 
their  curiosity,  the  sports  and  amusements  of  the  evening  were 
renewed. 

I  asked  permission  to  camp  of  no  one,  for  I  needed  none,  as 
this  was  God's  land,  and  not  owned  by  ravenous  and  dishonest 
speculators.  So  I  marched  right  down  to  the  center  of  the  vil 
lage,  and  finding  a  vacant  space,  pitched  my  lodge.  It  was  not 
necessary  to  purchase  a  town-lot  here,  for  no  one,  save  Him  who 
owns  all,  held  real  estate. 

A  few  Santee  women  gathered  about  my  squaws  and  chatted 
with  them,  anxious  to  learn  the  news  from  down  the  river. 
Seeing  they  were  interfering  with  the  unpacking  of  the  ponies 
and  the  erecting  of  the  lodge,  I  unceremoniously  ordered  them 
to  begone,  and  they  went  quietly  away.  The  lodge  was  soon 
up ;  the  ponies  unpacked  and  put  out  to  graze.  Having  seen 
things  put  in  order  for  the  night,  I  sauntered  out  through  the 
village  to  learn  the  news. 

I  was  agreeably  surprised,  when  I  learned  there  was  a  white 
man  in  the  village,  who  had  been  sent  out  to  the  Indians  as  a 
missionary.  All  the  savages  spoke  of  him  as  a  kind-hearted, 
good  man,  who  was  a  great  friend  of  the  Great  Spirit,  and  the 
Big  Father  at  Washington. 

I  made  haste  to  pay  my  respects  to  my  white  brother,  and 
found  him  indeed  a  good  Christian  gentleman.  He  had  a 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  95 

white  wife  and  child,  and  he  and  they  were  living  comfortably 
and  pleasantly  with  these  wild  children  of  the  desert.  I  talked 
more  than  an  hour  with  the  good  man ;  it  was  so  delightful  to 
see  and  speak  with  one  of  my  own  blood  and  color.  When  I 
left  him,  I  promised  I  would  return  the  next  day  and  dine 
with  him,  which  I  did.  It  may  sound  strange  to  hear  one 
talk  of  "  dining  out "  in  an  Indian  camp,  but  I  can  assure  my 
civilized  readers  the  meal  was  none  the  less  wholesome  or 
abundant  on  account  of  the  place  in  which  it  was  served. 

When  I  returned  to  my  lodge,  I  found  it  surrounded  by  a 
crowd  of  dirty  squaws  and  children,  who  were  intent  upon  ex 
amining  every  thing  we  had.  I  ordered  them  off,  and  could 
not  help  laughing  when  I  compared  the  curiosity  of  these  rude 
Indian  women  with  that  I  had  seen  exhibited  at  church  in  the 
States  by  white  women.  They  there  go  to  church,  not  to  hear 
the  Gospel,  but  to  see  what  their  neighbors  have  to  wear,  and 
these  Indian  women  had  come  to  my  lodge  with  the  same 
laudable  object.  I  am  not  certain  that  human  nature  is  the 
same  every-where,  but  I  am  quite  certain  woman  nature  is  the 
same  all  the  world  over. 

I  found  the  Santees  a  most  excellent  people.  I  had  heard 
bad  stories  about  them,  but  was  agreeably  surprised  to  learn 
that  all  that  had  been  told  to  their  disadvantage  was  false. 
The  Omahas,  Winnebagoes,  Pawnees,  Otoes,  Sacs,  Foxes, 
Crows,  Snakes,  Arrapahoes,  Cheyennes,  Blackfeet,  Ogallalahs, 
and  Yanktons  are  all  either  thieves  or  beggars,  but  here  was 
a  tribe  of  Indians  who  neither  begged  nor  stole.  The  women 
were  generally  neat  in  their  dress,  virtuous,  and  cleanly  in 
their  persons.  The  warriors  were  men  of  great  pride  and 
bravery.  The  chiefs  of  the  Santees  were  men  of  few  words, 
but  they  were  dignified,  courteous,  and  truthful  in  all  they 


96  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

said  and  did.  After  all  my  experiences  and  disappointments 
among  the  Indians  of  the  plains,  I  could  not  help  admiring 
and  respecting  these  people,  for  here  at  last  I  had  found  a  tribe 
such  as  Cooper  had  represented,  and  Longfellow  characterized 
in  Hiawatha.  The  longer  I  lived  among  the  Santees  the 
more  cause  I  found  to  praise  them. 

I  had  built  a  willow  awning  over  the  door  of  my  teepee, 
and  shaded  it  with  brush,  so  it  was  quite  cool  and  pleasant. 

Every  tribe  of  Indians  build  their  lodges  differently.  Thus, 
the  Winnebagoes  live  in  huts  made  of  the  bark  of  trees, 
closely  resembling  an  inverted  teacup  on  the  outside.  The 
Pawnee  houses  are  built  in  the  same  shape,  but  are  made  of 
mud,  sod,  or  adobes. 

The  Santee  lodges  were  tall  conical-shaped  tents,  made  of 
buffalo  hide  tanned  with  the  hair  off,  and  stretched  around 
twelve  poles.  These  poles  are  tied  together  at  the  top,  and  set 
about  three  feet  apart  at  the  bottom,  around  a  circle  of  one 
hundred  and  eight  feet.  The  lodge,  when  finished,  is  thirty- 
six  feet  in  diameter  at  the  ground.  The  skin  or  covering  is  cut 
bias,  the  small  end  being  fastened  to  the  top  of  the  poles  and 
the  long  end  wrapped  round  and  round  the  poles,  and  finally 
fastened  to  the  ground  with  a  wooden  pin  or  stone.  The  poles 
are  not  set  in  the  ground,  but  the  edge  of  the  lodge  cover 
is  pinned  down  with  short  pegs  made  of  hard  wood.  An 
aperture  is  left  at  the  top  of  the  lodge  for  the  smoke  to  escape, 
and  the  fire  is  built  in  the  center.  When  the  door  is  open 
it  draws  well,  and  all  the  smoke  goes  up  and  out  at  the 
aperture. 

These  lodges,  although  standing  on  the  surface  of  the  ground 
and  apparently  very  fragile,  will  withstand  the  most  violent 
wind  and  rain  storms.  I  have  seen  them  outlive  the  strongest 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  99 

modern  tents,  and  stand  up  when  even  great  trees  were  blown 
down. 

Many  of  the  teepees  were  painted,  having  grotesque  repre 
sentations  of  men,  horses,  birds,  turtles,  deer,  elk,  and  other 
animals  in  red,  blue,  and  black  colors  on  their  sides.  The 
village  contained  about  two  hundred  lodges,  and  represented  a 
prairie-dog  town,  being  laid  out  with  little  regularity  or  order 
as  to  the  streets. 

The  village  covered  a  great  space,  the  tents  being  often  one 
and  two  hundred  yards  apart. 

Having  improved  and  beautified  my  own  lodge  to  my  sat 
isfaction,  I  sat  down  to  enjoy  myself  and  smoke  my  pipe  in 
peace  among  these  delightful  people,  little   caring  if  I  never  » 
saw  the  Yankton  village  again. 


100  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


CHAPTER  X. 

INDIAN  ARROWS — HOW  THEY  ARE  MADE — CUTTING  THE  SHAFTS — DRYING  AND 
SMOKING  THEM — WHY  THEY  ARE  WRAPPED  IN  RAWHIDE — PEALING  THE 
SHAFTS — MAKING  THE  NOTCH — WHY  THE  SHAFT  IS  FLUTED — THE  ARROW 
HEAD — FASTENING  IT — PUTTING  ON  THE  FEATHER — PRICE  OF  ARROW-HEADS 
— WHERE  THEY  ARE  MADE — IMMENSE  PROFITS  OF  THE  TRADERS — PRICES  OF 

ARROWS THE  INDIANS  BAD  FINANCIERS INDIAN  PAINTS WHERE  THEY  ARE 

MANUFACTURED — A    CURIOUS,  BUT    PROFITABLE    BUSINESS — WAR    ARROWS — A 

DEADLY  SHAFT — THE  TERRIBLE    POISONED    ARROW — HOW    IT    IS    POISONED 

DISUSE    OF    THE    POISONED    ARROW — THE    REASON  WHY — SIGNAL    ARROWS — 
HOW  THEY  ARE  MADE — THEIR  MEANING INDIAN  CUNNING. 

"FT  was  during  my  residence  in  the  Santee  village  that  I  saw 
-•-  many  curious  things,  and  learned  much  of  the  mode  of  life 
and  ceremonies  of  the  Indians.  Some  of  these  are  well  worth, 
not  only  reading  but  remembering,  by  persons  who  peruse  this 
volume. 

Most  people  have  seen  the  bows  and  arrows  used  by  boys  in 
the  eastern  States,  and  those  who  have  observed  them  know 
how  feeble  they  are,  not  even  being  capable  of  killing  the 
smallest  animal.  Do  not  be  surprised,  then,  when  I  tell  you 
that  an  Indian,  with  his  bow,  will  send  an  arrow  entirely 
through  a  horse,  man,  or  buffalo.  The  shaggy-coated  bear  or 
Rocky  Mountain  lion  will  fall  beneath  a  few  shots  from  the 
savage's  strong  bow,  while  the  fleet,  wild  deer  is  not  swift 
enough  to  escape  the  flight  of  his  arrow.  With  unerring  aim 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  101 

the  hunter  sends  his  deadly  shaft,  at  eighty  yards,  into  the 
heart  or  eye  of  his  game,  and  with  ease  tips  birds  from  the 
tops  of  the  highest  trees.  Of  course,  it  requires  long  practice 
to  acquire  such  skill  in  the  use  of  the  bow,  but  the  Indian  will 
tell  you  that  more  depends  upon  the  manufacture  of  the  weapon 
than  the  skill  of  the  marksman.  With  a  good  Indian  bow 
and  arrow  a  white  man  can,  in  a  few  hours,  learn  to  shoot 
very  well,  while  with  a  bow  and  arrow  of  his  own  manufac 
ture  he  can  hardly  hit  a  tree,  the  size  of  a  man's  body,  a 
rod  off. 

Let  me  teach  you  how  to  make  a  good  bow  and  arrow.  And 
first,  we  will  begin  with  the  arrow:  The  shoots,  or  rods,  must 
be  cut  in  the  arrow  season,  that  is,  when  the  summer's  growth 
is  ended.  They  must  not  have  any  branches  or  limbs  on  them, 
but  be  straight  and  smooth.  The  Indians  cut  their  arrows 
late  in  the  fall,  when  the  timber  is  hardening,  to  withstand  the 
blasts  of  winter.  The  sticks  are  not  quite  so  thick  as  one's 
little  finger,  and  they  are  sorted  and  tied  in  bundles  of  twenty 
and  twenty-five.  These  bundles  are  two  or  two  and  one-half 
feet  in  length,  and  wrapped  tightly  from  end  to  end  with  strips 
of  rawhide,  or  elk  skin.  The  sticks  are  then  hung  up  over 
fire  in  the  teepee  to  be  smoked  and  dried,  and  the  wrapping 
keeps  them  from  warping  or  bending.  When  they  are  seasoned, 
which  takes  several  weeks,  the  bundles  are  taken  down,  the 
covering  removed,  and  the  bark  scraped  off.  The  wood  is  very 
tough,  then,  and  of  a  yellowish  color.  The  next  process  is  to 
cut  the  arrow  shafts  exactly  one  length,  and  in  this  great  care 
must  be  used,  for  arrows  of  different  lengths  fly  differently,  and, 
unless  they  are  alike,  the  hunter's  aim  is  destroyed.  Another 
reason  for  measuring  the  length  of  arrows  is  to  identify  them ; 
for  no  two  warriors  shoot  arrows  of  precisely  the  same  length. 


102  BELDEN  :    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

Each  warrior  carries  a  measuring,  or  pattern  stick,  and  it  ih 
only  necessary  to  compare  an  arrow  with  the  stick  to  find  out 
to  whom  it  belongs.  But  should  the  arrows,  by  chance,  be  of 
one  length,  then  there  are  other  means  of  identifying  them, 
for  every  hunter  has  his  own  private  mark  in  the  shaft,  the 
head,  or  the  feather.  Of  many  thousands  I  have  examined,  I 
never  found  two  arrows  exactly  alike  when  they  were  made  by 
different  warriors. 

The  shafts  being  made  even,  the  next  work  is  to  form  the 
notch  for  the  bow-string.  This  is  done  with  a  sharp  knife,  and, 
when  made  properly,  the  bottom  of  the  notch  will  be  precisely 
in  the  center  of  the  shaft.  The  arrow  is  then  scraped  and 
tapered  toward  the  notch,  leaving  a  round  head  an  inch  long 
near  the  notch,  to  prevent  the  string  from  splitting  the  shaft, 
and  to  make  a  firm  hold  for  the  thumb  and  forefinger  in  draw 
ing  the  bow. 

All  the  arrows  are  pealed,  scraped,  and  notched,  and  then 
the  warrior  creases  them.  To  do  this,  he  takes  an  arrow-head 
and  scores  the  shaft  in  zigzag  lines  from  end  to  end.  These 
creases,  or  fluted  gutters,  in  the  shaft  are  to  let  the  blood  run 
out  when  an  animal  is  struck.  The  blood  flows  along  the  little 
gutters  in  the  wood  and  runs  off  the  end  of  the  arrow.  The 
arrow-head  is  made  of  steel  or  stone.  It  is  shaped  like  a  heart 
or  dart,  and  has  a  stem  about  an  inch  long.  The  sides  of  the 
stem  are  nicked  or  filed  out  like  saw-teeth.  Nearly  all  the  wild 
Indians  now  use  steel  arrow-heads,  they  being  a  great  article  of 
trade  among  the  savages.  There  are  firms  in  the  East,  who 
manufacture  many  hundreds  of  thousands  every  year  and  send 
them  out  to  the  traders,  who  sell  them  to  the  Indians  for  furs. 

When  the  shaft  is  ready  for  the  head,  the  warrior  saws  a  slit, 
with  a  nicked  knife,  in  the  end  opposite  the  notch,  and  inserts 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


103 


the  stem  of  the  arrow-head.  The  slit  must  be  exactly  in  the 
center  of  the  shaft,  and  as  deep  as  the  stem  is  long.  When 
properly  adjusted,  the  teeth  of  the  stem  show  themselves  on 
each  side  of  the  slit.  Buffalo,  deer,  or  elk  sinew  is  then  soft 
ened  in  water,  and  the  wood  is  wrapped  firmly  to  the  arrow 
head,  taking  care  to  fit  the  sinew  in  the  teeth  of  the  stem, 
which  will  prevent  the  head  from  pulling  out. 

The  next  process  is  to  put  on  the  feathers.     To  do  this 

properly  great  care  must  be 
taken.  Turkey  or  eagle 
quills  are  soaked  in  warm 
water,  to  make  them  split 
easily  and  uniformly.  The 
feather  is  then  stripped  from 
the  quill  and  put  on  the  shaft 
of  the  arrow.  Three  feathers 
are  placed  on  each  shaft,  and 
they  are  laid  equi-distant 
along  the  stem.  The  big 
end  of  the  feather  is  fast 
ened  near  the  notch  of  the 
shaft  and  laid  six  or  eight 
inches  straight  along  the 


'wood.  The  feathers  are  glued 
to  the  shaft,  and  wrapped  at 
each  end  with  fine  sinew. 

The  arrow  is  next  painted,  marked,  dried,  and  is  ready  for  use 

It  takes  a  warrior  a  whole  day  to  make  an  arrow,  for  which  the 

trader  allows  him  ten  cents. 

Arrow-heads  are  put  up  in  packages  of  a  dozen  each.     They 

cost  the  trader  half  a  cent,  or  six  cents  per  package,  and  are  sold 


Old  Stone  Arrow-heads. 


104  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

to  the  Indians  at  enormous  profits.  Thus,  twelve  arrow-heads 
will  be  exchanged  for  a  buffalo  robe,  worth  $8  or  $9,  and  three, 
for  a  beaver  skin,  worth  $4.  Indians  often  buy  arrow-heads  at 
these  enormous  prices,  and  then  sell  the  arrow  back  to  the  trader 
at  ten  cents,  in  exchange  for  goods,  beads,  or  knives.  The  paints 
used  by  Indians  in  ornamenting  arrows  are  purchased  from 
traders.  It  is  put  up  in  small  packages,  and  sold  at  500  per 
cent,  above  cost.  Of  late  years  there  has  been  a  house  in  St.  Louis 
that  has  made  a  speciality  of  Indian  paints,  and  every  Indian 
tribe  on  the  plains  knows  their  brand.  These  paints  are  in 
delible  and  excellent,  the  Indians  being  willing  to  pay  any 
price  for  them.  Generally,  imitation  of  Chinese  vermillion, 
yellow  and  green  cromes,  indigo,  lamp-black,  and  ink  are  sold 
to  the  savages  for  paints. 

To  make  war  arrows,  the  Indians  manufacture  the  shafts  the 
same  as  for  game  arrows.  The  head  is  then  fastened  loosely  in 
the  wood,  and  when  it  is  fired  into  the  body  it  can  not  be  got 
out.  If  you  pull  at  the  shaft  the  barbs  catch  and  the  shaft 
pulls  off,  leaving  the  arrow-head  in  the  wound.  Some  war 
arrows  have  but  one  barb,  and  when  this  arrow  is  fired  into 
the  body,  if  the  shaft  be  pulled,  the  barb  catches  in  the  flesh 
and  the  steel  turns  cross-wise  in  the  wound,  rendering  it  im 
possible  to  extract  it. 

Fortunately  but  few  Indian  tribes  now  use  the  poisoned 
arrow.  This  deadly  weapon  is  made  like  other  arrows,  except 
that  it  has  a  poisoned  point.  For  years  past,  in  the  wars  along 
the  Platte,  on  the  upper  Missouri,  and  in  all  our  contests  with 
the  Indians,  not  a  single  soldier  or  citizen  has  been  shot  with 
a  poisoned  arrow.  Civilization  can  never  be  sufficiently  grate 
ful,  to  even  savages,  for  having  discarded  a  practice  so  bar 
barous. 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  105 

A  Santee  warrior  once  showed  me  the  method  used  by  Indians 
in  poisoning  arrows,  which  I  will  here  describe: 

A  large,  bloated,  yellow  rattlesnake,  the  most  deadly  reptile  in 
the  world,  was  caught,  and  his  head  held  fast  by  a  forked  stick. 
An  Indian  then  tickled  him  with  a  small  switch,  by  passing  it 
along  his  body  from  head  to  tail.  The  rage  of  the  snake  was 
unbounded;  he  threshed  the  ground  with  his  body,  hissed, 
rattled  his  tail,  and  his  eyes  grew  bright  as  diamonds.  I  could 
not  imagine  why  so  simple  a  thing  should  make  him  so  angry, 
but  his  rage  was  as  great  as  it  was  amusing.  A  small  deer  had 
been  brought  out  alive,  and  when  the  snake  was  most  furious, 
the  animal  was  killed,  the  smoking  liver  torn  out,  and,  hot  and 
bloody,  laid  before  the  reptile.  The  stick  was  then  removed 
from  his  neck,  and  in  an  instant  he  struck  it,  his  teeth  sinking 
deep  into  the  soft  flesh.  His  rage  seemed  to  increase  each  mo 
ment,  and  he  hit  it  again  and  again.  When  he  tired,  and  would 
have  gone  away,  the  forked  stick  was  brought,  his  neck  pinned 
to  the  earth,  and  the  tickle  used  until  he  became  enraged.  This 
was  kept  up  as  long  as  the  hideous  creature  could  be  induced  to 
strike  the  liver.  He  was  then  killed,  a  sharpened  pole  stuck 
into  the  liver,  and  it  was  carried  to  the  village.  It  soon  be 
came  very  black,  and  emitted  a  sour  smell.  Arrows  were 
brought,  the  heads  thrust  into  the  liver,  and  left  there  for  half 
an  hour,  when  they  were  withdrawn,  and  laid  in  the  sun  to  dry. 
A  thin,  glistening  yellow  scum  adhered  to  the  arrow,  and  if  it 
but  so  much  as  touched  the  raw  flesh,  it  was  certain  to  poison  to 
the  death. 

Formerly  the  Indians  always  carried  their  poisoned  arrows 
in  the  skins  of  rattlesnakes,  and  they  were  very  careful  of  them, 
selecting  and  poisoning  only  such  as  had  long  shafts,  peculiar 
points,  or  different  marks.  Still,  mistakes  would  occur,  warrior's 


106  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

horses,  dogs,  and  children,  got  accidentally  poisoned  and  died, 
and  at  last  the  Indians  quit  using  them,  more  on  account  of  their 
own  safety  than  for  any  humanitarian  reasons. 

A  liver  prepared  in  the  way  I  have  described,  would  contain 
virus  enough  to  poison  a  thousand  arrows.  Years  ago,  each  war 
party  carried  a  poisoned  liver,  wrapped  in  a  piece  of  buckskin, 
and  it,  with  many  arrows,  was  packed  on  a  pony,  called  the 
"dead  horse."  When  they  found  arrows  of  the  enemy,  they 
would  poison  and  throw  them  on  the  trails,  where  they  would 
be  picked  up  and  used  by  the  foe  to  shoot  game. 

Travelers  on  the  prairie  have  often  seen  the  Indians  throw 
ing  up  signal  lights  at  night,  and  have  wondered  how  it  was 
done.  I  will  tell  you  all  about  it :  They  take  off  the  head  of 
the  arrow  and  dip  the  shaft  in  gunpowder,  mixed  with  glue. 
This  they  call  making  fire  arrows.  The  gunpowder  adheres  to 
the  wood,  and  coats  it  three  or  four  inches  from  its  end,  to 
the  depth  of  one-fourth  of  an  inch.  Chewed  bark  mixed  with 
dry  gunpowder  is  then  fastened  to  the  stick,  and  the  arrow  is 
ready  for  use.  When  it  is  to  be  fired,  a  warrior  places  it  on 
his  bow-string  and  draws  his  bow  ready  to  let  it  fly;  the  point 
of  the  arrow  is  then  lowered,  another  warrior  lights  the  dry 
bark,  and  it  is  shot  high  in  the  air.  When  it  has  gone  up  a 
little  distance,  it  bursts  out  into  a  flame,  and  burns  brightly 
until  it  falls  to  the  ground.  Various  meanings  are  attached  to 
these  fire-arrow  signals.  Thus,  one  arrow  meant,  among  the 
Santees,  "  The  enemy  are  about ; "  two  arrows  from  the  same 
point,  "  Danger ;"  Three, "  Great  danger ; "  many,  "  They  are  too 
strong,  or  we  are  falling  back ; "  two  arrows  sent  up  at  the  same 
moment,  "  We  will  attack ; "  three,  "  Soon ; "  four,  "  Now ; "  if 
shot  diagonally,  "  In  that  direction."  These  signals  are  con 
stantly  changed,  and  are  always  agreed  upon  when  the  party 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  107 

goes  out,  or  before  it  separates.  The  Indians  send  their  signals 
very  intelligently,  and  seldom  make  mistakes  in  telegraphing 
each  other  by  these  silent  monitors.  The  amount  of  informa 
tion  they  can  communicate,  by  fires  and  burning  arrows,  is 
perfectly  wonderful.  Every  war  party  carries  with  it  bundles 
of  signal  arrows. 

Every  tribe  of  Indians  make  their  arrows  differently.  The 
Snakes  put  but  two  feathers  on  their  shafts ;  the  Sioux,  when 
they  make  their  own  arrow-points,  or  buy  them,  always  prefevr 
long,  slim  points;  the  Cheyennes,  blunt  points,  sharp  on  the 
edges;  the  Pawnees,  medium  points;  and  the  Crows,  Blackfeet, 
Utes,  Omahas,  Ottoes,  and  Winnebagoes,  long  points.  The 
Pawnees  wrap  their  arrow-heads  with  elk  sinew,  the  Crows 
with  deer,  and  the  Santees,  with  sinew  taken  from  the  inside 
of  the  shoulder-blade  of  a  buffalo  bull.  Not  many  years  ago, 
the  hunters  and  frontiersmen  could  tell  to  what  tribe  the 
Indians  who  attacked  them  belonged  by  their  arrows,  but  now 
that  is  impossible.  Many  tribes  trade  and  exchange  arrows,  while 
others  pick  up  and  keep  all  the  arrows  they  find.  It  is  a 
practice  among  the  Pawnees,  to  carefully  collect  all  the  arrows 
of  their  enemies  and  keep  them  to  shoot  again,  or  trade,  while 
many  wily  Indians,  when  they  wish  to  attack  the  whites,  or 
commit  an  outrage,  purposely  use  arrows  belonging  to  other 
tribes.  To  find  a  white  man  dead,  with  a  Pawnee  arrow  stick 
ing  in  him,  is  no  longer,  as  in  former  days,  evidence  that  a 
Pawnee  killed  him,  for,  most  likely,  the  deed  was  done  .by  a 
Cheyenne  or  Sioux,  and  the  blame  thus  sought  to  be  thrown 
on  the  poor  Pawnees. 
7 


108  BKLDEN:   THE*  WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  BOW  —  ITS  ANTIQUITY  —  INDIAN  BOYS  LEARNING  TO  SHOOT  —  POWER  OP 
THE  BOW  —  THE  SIOUX  BOW  —  HOW  IT  IS  MADE  —  WHY  IT  IS  OARRfED  UN 
STRUNG  -  WOOD  FOR  BOWS  —  THEIR  VALUE  —  DIFFICULTY  OF  DRAWING  THEM  — 
SHOOTING  BUFFALO  WITH  BOWS  AND  ARROWS  —  STRENGTHENING  THE  BOW 
WITH  SINEW  —  THE  BOW-STRING  -  CROW  AND  CHEYENNE  BOWS  —  THE  ELK 
HORN  BOW  —  HOW  IT  IS  MADE  —  THE  VALUE  OF  AN  ELK  BOW  —  QUIVERS  —  HOW 
THEY  ARE  MADE  AND  CARRIED  —  NAMES  OF  INDIANS  —  THE  SIOUX  CHIEF 
SPOTTED  TAIL  —  HOW  TO  SHOOT  WITH  THE  BOW  —  STRIKING  WITH  THE  BOW  — 
INDIAN  INSULTS  AND  HONOR. 


bow  —  the  weapon  so  long  in  use  among  the  different 
Indian  tribes  of  this  continent,  so  typical  of  Indian  life,  and 
the  mere  mention  of  which  always  associates  our  ideas  with  the 
red  men  —  is  made  of  various  kinds  of  wood,  and  its  manu 
facture  is  a  work  of  no  little  labor.  Even  at  this  day  the 
bow  is  much  used,  and  although  an  Indian  may  have  a  gun, 
he  is  seldom  seen  without  his  long  bow,  and  quiver  well  filled 
with  arrows.  The  gun  may  get  out  of  order,  and  he  can  not 
mend  it  ;  the  ammunition  may  become  wet,  and  there  is  an  end 
of  hunting  ;  but  the  faithful  bow  is  always  in  order,  and  its  swift 
arrows  ready  to  fly  in  wet  as  well  as  dry  weather.  Thus 
reasons  the  savage,  and  so  keeps  his  bow  to  fall  back  upon  in 
case  of  accident. 

Until  the  invention  of  breech-loaders,  it  is  a  fact  well  known 
to  frontiersmen  that  the  bow  was  a  far  more  deadly  weapon  at 
close  range  than  the  best  rifle.  A  warrior  could  discharge  his 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


arrows  with  much  greater  rapidity  and  precision  than  the  most 
expert  woodsman  could  charge  and  fire  a  muzzle-loading 
rifle. 

The  antiquity  of  the  bow  is  so  great  that  its  origin  is  per 
haps  coincident  with  war  and  the  necessities  of  mankind.  It 
is  painted  on  the  ruins  of  Nineveh  ;  it  is  mentioned  in  the  first 
book  of  the  Bible,  and  it  is  known  to  have  been  used  on  the 
eastern  shore  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  where  the  human  race 
probably  first  had  its  origin. 

The  Indian  boy's  first  lesson  in  life  is  to  shoot  with  a  bow. 
He  is  furnished  with  a  small  bow  and  "beewaks,"  or  blunt 
arrows,  so  he  will  hurt  nobody,  and  with  these  he  shoots  at 
marks.  By  and  by,  when  he  has  acquired  some  skill  in  hand 
ling  his  weapon,  he  is  given  small  arrow-points,  and  with 
these  he  shoots  birds,  squirrels,  and  small  beasts.  As  he  grows 
older  he  receives  the  long-bow,  and  at  last  the  strong-bow. 

These  strong-bows  are  powerful  weapons,  and  I  have  seen 
them  so  stiff  that  a  white  man  could  not  bend  them  scarce  four 
inches,  while  an  Indian  would,  with  apparent  ease,  draw  them 
to  the  arrow's  head.  A  shaft  fired  from  one  of  these  bows  will 
go  through  the  body  of  a  buffalo,  and  arrow-heads  have  been 
found  so  firmly  imbedded  in  the  thigh  bones  of  a  man  that  no 
force  could  extract  them. 

The  parents  take  great  pride  in  teaching  young  Indians  to 
shoot,  and  the  development  of  the  muscles  and  strength  of 
their  arms  is  watched  with  much  interest.  A  stout  arm,  orna 
mented  with  knots  of  muscles,  is  a  great  honor  to  an  Indian, 
and  no  one  but  those  who  can  handle  the  strong-bow  are 
deemed  fit  for  war. 

Of  all  the  Indians  of  the  West,  the  Sioux  and  Crows  make 
the  best  bows.  The  Sioux  bow  is  generally  four  feet  long,  one 

10 


110  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

and  a  half  inches  wide,  and  an  inch  thick  at  the  middle.  It 
tapers  from  the  center,  or  "grasp,"  toward  the  ends,  and  is 
but  half  an  inch  wide  and  half  an  inch  thick  at  the  extrem 
ities.  At  one  end  the  bow-string  is  notched  into  the  wood  and 
made  permanently  fast,  while  at  the  other  end  two  notches  are 
cut  in  the  wood,  and  the  string  at  that  end  of  the  bow  is  Liade 
like  a  slip-knot  or  loop.  When  the  bow  is  to  be  used,  the 
warrior  sets  the  end  to  which  the  string  is  made  fast  firmly 
on  the  ground,  and  then  bends  down  the  other  end  until 
the  loop  slips  into  the  notch.  This  is  called  "  stringing "  the 
bow.  The  bow  is  never  kept  strung  except  when  in  actual 
use,  as  it  would  lose  its  strength  and  elasticity  by  being  con 
stantly  bent.  When  unstrung,  a  good  bow  is  perfectly 
straight,  and,  if  properly  made  and  seasoned,  will  always  retain 
its  elasticity. 

The  wood  generally  used  in  manufacturing  bows  is  ash, 
hickory,  iron-wood,  elm,  and  cedar.  No  hickory  grows  west  of 
the  Missouri,  and  it  is  very  difficult  to  get;  and  an  Indian  will 
always  pay  a  high  price  for  a  piece  of  this  wood. 

When  the  bow  is  made  of  cedar,  it  need  not  be  seasoned  ; 
but  all  other  woods  require  seasoning,  and  are  not  worked 
until  perfectly  dry.  Every  teepee  has  its  bow-wood  hung  up 
with  the  arrows  in  the  smoke  of  the  fire,  but  well  out  of  reach 
of  the  flames.  A  warrior  with  a  sharp  knife  and  a  sandstone, 
or  file,  can  make  a  bow  in  three  days  if  he  works  hard,  but 
it  most  generally  takes  a  week,  and  sometimes  a  month,  to 
finish  a  fancy  bow.  When  done,  it  is  worth  three  dollars  in 
trade. 

All  the  bows  differ  in  length  and  strength,  being  gauged  for 
the  arms  of  those  who  are  to  use  them;  but  a  white  man 
would,  until  he  learned  the  slight  of  it,  find  himself  unable  to 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  Ill 

bend  even  the  weakest  war-bow.  This  has  given  rise  to  the 
impression  that  the  Indians  are  stronger  than  white  men,  which 
is  an  error ;  for,  although  only  a  slight  man  myself,  I  learned, 
after  some  practice,  to  bend  the  strongest  bow,  and  could  send 
a  shaft  as  far  or  as  deep  as  any  savage.  On  one  occasion  I 
shot  an  arrow,  while  running,  into  a  buffalo  so  that  the  point 
came  out  on  the  opposite  side;  another  arrow  disappeared  in 
the  buffalo,  not  even  the  notch  being  visible.  The  power  of 
the  bow  may  be  better  understood  when  I  tell  you  that  the 
most  powerful  Colt's  revolver  will  not  send  a  ball  through  a 
buffalo.  I  have  seen  a  bow  throw  an  arrow  five  hundred 
yards,  and  have  myself  often  discharged  one  entirely  through 
a  board  one  inch  thick.  Once  I  found  a  man's  skull  trans 
fixed  to  a  tree  by  an  arrow  which  had  gone  completely  through 
the  bones,  and  imbedded  itself  so  deep  in  the  wood  as  to  sus 
tain  the  weight  of  the  head.  He  had  probably  been  tied  up  to 
the  tree  and  shot. 

The  Sioux  and  Cheyenne  bows  are  generally  strengthened 
on  the  back  by  a  layer  of  sinew  glued  to  the  wood.  This 
sinew,  as  well  as  the  bow-string,  is  taken  from  the  back  of  the 
buffalo.  It  starts  at  the  hump  and  runs  along  the  spinal 
column  to  the  tail,  and  is  about  six  feet  in  length. 

The  surface  of  the  bow  is  made  perfectly  flat,  then  roughened 
with  a  file  or  stone,  the  sinew  being  dipped  in  hot  glue  and 
laid  on  the  wood.  The  sinew  is  then  lapped  at  the  ends  and 
on  the  middle,  or  grasp  of  the  bow.  The  string  is  attached 
while  green,  twisted,  and  left  to  dry  on  the  bow.  The  whole 
outside  of  the  wood  and  sinew  is  now  covered  with  a  thick 
solution  of  glue,  and  the  bow  is  done.  Rough  bo^s  look  like 
hickory  limbs  with  the  bark  on,  but  some  of  them  are  beauti 
fully  painted  and  ornamented.  I  once  knew  a  trader  to  glue 


112  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

some  red  velvet  on  a  bow,  and  the  Indians  paid  him  an  im 
mense  price  for  it,  thinking  it  very  wonderful. 

The  Crows  make  bows  out  of  Elk  horn.  To  do  this  they 
take  a  large  horn  or  prong,  and  saw  a  slice  off  each  side  of  it ; 
these  slices  are  then  filed  or  rubbed  down  until  the  flat  sides 
fit  nicely  together,  when  they  are  glued  and  wrapped  at  the  ends. 
Four  slices  make  a  bow,  it  being  jointed.  Another  piece  ot 
horn  is  laid  on  the  center  of  the  bow  at  the  grasp,  where  it  is 
glued  fast.  The  whole  is  then  filed  down  until  it  is  perfectly 
proportioned,  when  the  white  bone  is  ornamented,  carved,  and 
painted.  Nothing  can  exceed  the  beauty  of  these  bows,  and  it 
takes  an  Indian  about  three  months  to  make  one.  They  are 
very  expensive,  and  Indians  do  not  sell  them;  but  I  once 
managed  to  get  one  from  a  friend  for  thirty-two  dollars  in  gold. 

In  traveling,  the  bow  is  carried  in  a  sheath  attached  to  the 
arrow  quiver,  and  the  whole  is  slung  to  the  back  by  a  belt  of 
elk  or  buckskin,  which  passes  diagonally  across  the  breast,  and 
is  fastened  to  the  ends  of  the  quiver.  The  quiver  and  bow- 
sheath  is  generally  made  of  the  skin  of  an  ox  or  some  wild 
animal,  and  is  tanned  with  the  hair  on.  The  quiver  is  orna 
mented  with  tassals,  fringe  of  buckskin,  and  the  belt  across 
the  breast  is  painted  or  worked  with  beads.  Each  Indian  has 
his  sign  or  name  on  his  belt,  bow,  sheath,  or  arrow  quiver. 
The  celebrated  Sioux  chief,  Spotted  Tail,  or  "Sin-ta  Galles- 
sca, "  had  his  bow-sheath  made  from  the  skin  of  a  spotted 
ox  he  had  killed  in  a  train  his  warriors  captured,  and  as  the 
tail  was  left  dangling  at  the  end  of  the  sheath,  the  Indians 
ever  afterward  called  him  Spotted  Tail,  or  "  The  man  with  the 
Spotted  Tail. "  *  You  may  be  curious  to  know  what  this  In- 

*Mr.  Belden  is  likely  mistaken  as  to  the  origin  of  Spotted  Tail's 
name.  I  have  often  been  told  by  soldiers  and  old  frontiersmen  that  when 


Bows,  Arrows,  and  Quivers. 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  115 

dian's  name  was  before  he  was  called  Spotted  Tail,  and  I  must 
tell  you  many  Indians  never  have  a  name,  while  others  have 
half  a  dozen.  Some  act  of  bravery,  or  an  article  of  clothing, 
generally  fixes  an  Indian's  name,  but  a  new  deed,  or  a  new 
head-dress,  may  change  it. 

To  shoot  with  the  bow  properly,  it  must  be  held  firmly  in 
three  fingers  of  the  right  hand ;  the  arrow  is  fixed  on  the  bow 
string  with  the  thumb  and  forefinger  of  the  left  hand,  and  the 
other  three  fingers  are  used  to  pull  the  string.  The  shaft  of 
the  arrow  lays  between  the  thumb  and  forefinger  of  the  right 
hand,  which  rest  over  the  grasp  of  the  bow.  To  shoot,  the 
bow  is  turned  slightly,  so  one  end  is  higher  than  the  other,  and 
the  arrow  is  then  launched. 

Not  only  is  the  bow  used  as  a  weapon,  but  it  serves  as  an 
implement  with  which  to  disgrace  a  man.  Thus,  an  Indian 
who  is  struck  with  a  bow  is  as  much  disgraced  and  insulted  as 
a  white  man  who  has  been  cowhided.  To  strike  one  with  a 
bow  means  in  the  Indian  language,  "  Go,  coward ; "  or,  "  You 
are  not  worthy  of  being  killed  by  arrows;"  or,  "I  do  not 
consider  you  a  brave  or  honorable  man/'  which  is  the  worst  of 
all  insults  to  a  savage. 

Spotted  Tail  was  a  young  man  he  wore  a  coon's  tail  in  his  hair,  and  from 
thin  took  his  name  of  Spotted  Tail,  or  "  The  man  with  the  spotted  tail." 
Our  soldiers  have  often  seen  him  wearing  this  coon  tail  in  battle,  and  I 
think  it  was  from  it  he  derived  his  name. — EDITOR. 


116  BELDEN:    THE  WHITE   CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

INDIAN    MANUFACTORIES — THE   BONE,    STONE,    AND    FLINT   AX — HOW   THEY   ARE 

MADE INDIAN  HAMMERS,  MALLETS,  HATCHETS,  AND  HOES RASPS  AND  FILES 

— HOW  THEY  ARE  MADE,  AND  WHAT  USED  FOR — THEIR  POWER  AND  ENDUR 
ANCE — WAR-CLUBS,  SPEARS,  AND  JAVELINS — INDIAN  RIDING-WHIPS — CURIOUS 
MANNER  OF  MAKING  THEM THE  INDIAN  KNIFE A  REMARKABLE  TRADE  EN 
TERPRISE — THE  CROW  COMB — "NECESSITY  THE  MOTHER  OF  INVENTION*' 
ILLUSTRATED 

"JY/TOST  of  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  west,  have  obtained 
-»-*-•-  from  traders,  many  articles  of  civilization,  but  among 
the  Santees,  I  found  they  relied  almost  wholly  upon  their  own 
skill  to  produce  tools  and  household  utensils.  These  were 
generally  manufactured  by  old  men  and  squaws,  except  axes, 
hammers,  mallets,  files,  rasps,  and  hoes,  which  were  made  by 
the  warriors. 

The  axes  were  of  three  different  kinds — stone,  bone,  and 
flint.  The  stone  ax  is  made  from  a  large  pebble,  or  river 
stone.  It  is  first  split  in  two  parts,  which  gives  each  section 
a  sharp  edge  and  a  flat  side.  The  stone  is  then  enveloped  in 
rawhide,  except  the  edge.  The  hide  is  put  on  when  green, 
and  strongly  sewed  with  sinew,  nnd  when  dry,  it  is  almost  as 
hard  and  tight  as  the  stone.  While  the  hide  is  still  soft,  a 
handle  covered  with  rawhide,  and  having  a  long  slip  projecting, 
is  laid  on  the  flat  side  of  the  stone,  and  strongly  sewed  to  the 
skin  covering  the  ax.  The  slip  is  then  wrapped  around  the 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


117 


ax-head  and  handle,  and  sewed  fast,  after  which  the  whole  is 
lapped  with  sinew,  and  set  away  to  dry.  As  soon  as  it  is 
thoroughly  dried,  the  ax  is  brought  out,  the  edge  filed  up, 
or  sharpened  by  rubbing  it  against  a  sandstone,  and  it  is  ready 
for  use.  It  is  astonishing  how  firmly  the  contracted  rawhide 
and  sinews  hold  this  rude  ax  on  its  handle ;  the  stone  often 
breaks,  however,  and  the  ax  can  only  be  used  for  cutting  soft 
wood  and  brush.  Three  or  four  of  these  axes  can  be  made  by 
an  Indian  in  a  day,  so  they  are  of  no  great  value,  and  are 
thrown  away  as  soon  as  they  break. 

The  flint  axes  are  more  difficult  to  make,  but  are  manu 
factured  in  the  same  manner,  except  that  a  notch  is  sawed  in 
the  handle,  and  the  ax  set  in  the  notch  to  give  it  greater 
firmness. 


Indian  Axes  and  Clubs. 

The  bone  ax  is  the  best  as  well  as  the  hardest  to  make. 
Buffalo  bones  (generally  the  leg  or  shoulder-blade)  are  taken, 
split  in  two,  and  trimmed  down  to  the  right  thickness.  A  sap 
ling,  young  tree,  or  limb,  is  then  split  near  a  knot,  and  the 
bone  shaved  through,  where  it  is  left  to  grow  fast.  This  is 

done  in  the  spring,  and  by  fall  the  sap  will  have   filled   up 

11 


118  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

the  interstices,  and  the  wood  become  firm  around  the  bone. 
The  wood  is  then  cut  at  the  right  length,  and  the  handle 
shaved  out.  The  whole  is  next  covered  with  rawhide  sewed 
and  lapped  with  sinew,  the  bone  ground  up,  and  the  implement 
is  ready  for  service.  One  of  these  axes  will  last  a  year  and 
carry  a  fair  edge,  but  the  great  objection  to  them  is,  that  they 
are  too  light  for  effective  chopping.  Elk  ham-bone  makes  a 
very  good  ax  head. 

Mallets,  hammers,  and  hatchets,  are  made  in  the  same  man 
ner  as  described  for  axes,  except  that  the  big  mallet,  used  for 
driving  stakes  and  tent-pins,  is  made  of  a  round  stone,  in  the 
side  of  which  a  trench  has  been  pecked,  into  which  the  handle 
is  laid.  The  whole  is  then  covered  with  rawhide,  and  when 
dry,  the  hide  is  pared  off  one  end  of  the  stone,  and  it  is  flat 
tened  by  rubbing  it  against  a  rock,  or  dressing  it  as  a  miller 
does  his  millstone. 

Hoes  are  made  of  flat  stones  and  bones,  covered  with  raw 
hide,  and  a  handle  is  fastened  with  buffalo  sinews.  These  hoes 
are  used  to  dig  earth,  wild  artichokes,  and  for  scraping  the  hair 
off  hides  when  tanning. 

The  most  curious  process  was  making  files  and  rasps.  To 
do  this,  an  alderberry  stick  was  taken  and  split  in  two.  The 
pith  was  then  scraped  out,  and  in  the  grove  thus  formed,  was 
poured  glue,  mixed  with  pounded  flint.  When  dry,  the  parti 
cles  of  flint  formed  the  teeth  of  the  rasp,  or  file.  If  the  file 
became  dull,  it  was  only  necessary  to  wash  it  in  hot  water, 
when  the  glue  and  old  pieces  of  flint  washed  out  and  new 
teeth  appeared.  These  files  were  very  handy,  and  of  vast  use 
to  the  Indians.  What  steel  is  to  iron,  they  are  to  the  wood 
and  stone  used  by  the  Indian.  When  ponies  hoofs  became  too 
long,  or  splintered,  they  were  trimmed  down  by  these  rasps; 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


119 


also,  ax  handles,  teepee  poles,  and  iron,  even,  were  rubbed  down 

with  them. 

War  clubs  are  made  with  han 
dles  three  feet  long.  A  sharp  flint 
stone  is  found,  and  dressed  off  into 
an  oblong  shape.  A  sapling  ia 
then  split,  the  stone  heated  and 
placed  in  the  split.  This  is  re 
peated  until  the  crack  is  almost 
closed,  when  it  is  left  to  grow  fast. 
It  is  then  cut,  the  handle  trimmed 
out,  the  whole,  except  the  point  of 
Modem  War  club.  stone,  covered  with  rawhide,  and 

sewed  with   sinew,  when   it   is  beautifully  painted  and  orna 
mented. 
Spears  are  made  of  hard  wood,  and  pointed  with  stone  or 

iron.     If  an  Indian  can 

get  an  old  bayonet,  or 

sword- blade,  he   is  de 
lighted,  as  it  makes  a 

splendid    head    for    his 

spear.     If  no  iron  can 

be   obtained,   the  wood 

is  charred  in  the   fire; 

the  burnt  particles   are 

then  scraped  off,  leaving 

it  very  hard  and  sharp. 

The    butt    end  of   the 

pole  is  always  used  for 

the  head  of  the  spear, 

and  the  whole  length  of  Indian  Warrior  and  Cluo. 


120 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


the  instrument  is  twelve 
to  fifteen  feet.  The 
Sioux,  Cheyennes,  and  a 
few  other  tribes  still  use 
these  weapons,  but  they 
are  fast  disappearing. 
They  are  clumsy,  but 
very  dangerous  when 
skillfully  handled,  and 
can  be  thrown  a  great 
distance  with  considera 
ble  accuracy. 

Riding  whips  are 
made  in  great  numbers 
by  the  Indians.  They 
are  of  various  kinds  and  curious 


Sioux  Warrior  with  Rpear. 


Pawnee  and  Spear. 

patterns.  Some  are  twisted 
out  of  horse-hair,  and 
wrapped  with  fine 
sinew,  to  make  them 
stiff  and  elastic;  others 
are  woven  of  buffalo 
fur,  and  others  of  grass 
or  bark. 

The  regular  Indian 
riding  whip  is  made 
of  leather,  fastened  to 

a    wooden    handle.      A 

\ 

bone,  or  piece  of  round, 
hard  wood,  about  six 
inches  in  length,  is 
taken,  and  through  each 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


121 


end  a  small  hole  is  bored  across  the  grain.  Another  longer  hole 
is  then  bored  in  the  end  of  the  stick  along  the  grain,  until  it 
intersects  the  first  hole.  The  lash,  with  a  loop  on  its  end,  is 
next  inserted  in  the  end  of  the  whip,  and  a  peg  driven  through 
the  small  hole  and  loop,  to  keep  it  from  coming  out.  A  loop, 
or  wrist-strap,  is  then  put  in  the  other  end  of  the  handle,  an  I 
the  whip  is  ready  for  use.  The  lashes  of  these  whips  are  two  or 
three  feet  long  and  very  heavy,  being  made  generally  of  buck- 


Indians  Practicing  with  the  Bow  and  Spear. 

skin,  elk,  or  buffalo  hide.  They  are  frequently  not  plaited,  but 
knotted  every  five  or  six  inches.  These  knots  are  called  "  bel 
lies,"  and  are  intended  to  make  the  punishment  more  severe 
than  it  would  otherwise  be. 

The  elk-horn  whip  is  very  pretty,  being  usually  beautifully 
carved  and  painted  many  colors.  Sometimes  the,  long  prong 
of  a  blacktail  deer  is  used,  studded  with  brass  tacks,  or  pieces 


122  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

of  silver.  Frequently,  the  handles  are  covered  with  fur,  or 
buckskin,  which  is  ornamented  with  bead-work. 

The  Santees  could  make  a  rude  knife  when  they  could  get 
hoop-iron,  but  nearly  all  the  Indians  have  knives  made  by  white 
men.  These  knives  are  branded  Samson  &  Goodnow,  J.  Wil 
son,  Clement  &  Hawks,  though  how  these  manufacturers  got 
their  knives  among  the  Indians,  I  never  could  learn. 

The  Crow  Indians  are  the  only  ones  who  make  combs.  They 
are  very  simple,  and  consist  of  a  hedgehog's  tail,  the  bristles 
serving  as  teeth.  When  the  hog  is  killed,  the  tail  is  skinned 
off  the  bone,  and  a  wooden  handle  inserted.  When  dry  it  is 
ready  for  use,  and  is  by  no  means  a  bad  substitute  for  the 
bone,  or  horn  comb  we  use.  A  hedgehog  comb  is  an  indis 
pensable  article  to  every  Indian  girl,  as  it  enables  her  to  keep 
her  long  black  hair  in  order. 


BELDEN  :    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 


BUFFALO     ROBES  —FLESHING,   TANNING,     AND    DRYING     THEM  —  TRADE 

THEIR  VALUE  —  THE  BODY  ROBE  —  THE  FUR  TRADE  —  HOW  IT  IS  CONDUCTED— 
ITS  PROFITS  —  INDIAN  PRICES  OF  FURS  —  SENDING  THEM  TO  MARKET  —  THEIR 
VALUE  AT  ST.  LOUIS  —  ARTICLES  OF  TRADE  —  WHAT  INDIANS  BUY  —  A  NEW 
CURRENCY  —  LABOR  OF  PREPARING  FURS  —  HOW  MUCH  A  SQUAW  GETS  FOR  A 
FULL  DAY'S  WORK  —  FURS  THE  CHEAPEST  GOODS  IN  THE  WORLD. 

fTHHE  robes  used  by  the  Indians  in  winter  for  wearing  as 
-*-  protection  against  the  weather,  are  made  of  the  skins  of 
small  buffalo  bulls  or  cows.  The  skin  is  dressed  down  or 
thinned  by  means  of  chipping  and  scraping  of  the  flesh  side 
with  an  adze  or  hoe  made  of  bone.  When  it  is  as  thin  as  it 
can  be  cut  with  the  adze,  it  is  rubbed  down  to  the  right  thick 
ness  with  a  sandstone.  This  done,  the  robe  is  well  soaked  in 
buffalo  brains  and  grease,  after  which  it  is  dried.  It  is  then 
washed  in  clear  water,  and  re-washed,  until  all  the  grease  and 
brains  are  taken  out.  The  skin  now  only  has  to  be  rubbed 
dry,  and  the  tanning  process  is  complete. 

Squaws  and  men  all  wear  buffalo  robes  about  their  persons 
in  winter.  They  are  always  worn  with  the  fur  side  inwards, 
or  next  the  skin,  and  the  flesh  side  is  painted  with  stars, 
squares,  stripes,  or  whatever  strikes  the  fancy  of  the  wearer. 
The  paint  is  seared  in  with  a  hot  iron,  and  is  generally  black, 
red,  or  blue,  in  color. 

The  robes  made  for  trading  purposes  are  entirely  different 


121 


BELDEN  :    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


from  those  worn  by  the  Indians  themselves.  A  private,  or 
body-robe,  as  it  is  called,  is  worth  a  dozen  trade-robes.  The 
trade  skins  are  never  painted,  but  merely  fleshed,  brained, 
washed,  and  rubbed.  Once  in  a  while  a  painted  robe  finds  its 
way  into  the  market,  but 
only  as  old  family  jewels 
find  their  way  to  the  pawn- 
brok^r's  shop  among  civil 
ized  people.  An  Indian  will 
not  part  with  his  painted 
robe  unless  pressed  with  hun 
ger,  or  to  obtain  powder  and 
bullets.  A  new  body-robe 
is  seldom  or  never  sold,  and 
those  seen  in  the  East  are 
mostly  old  robes,  that  the 
Indians  have  parted  with 
because  they  were  about  to 
get  new  ones. 

The  trade-robes,  or  bull- 
hides,  usually  cost  at  the  tribe  grounds  from  §1.25  to  $2.00. 
The  traders  pack  them  in  bales  of  ten  robes  each,  and  ship 
them  East,  where  they  are  sold  at  $70  to  $90  per  bale.  What 
it  costs  to  transport  them,  I  am  unable  to  say ;  but  it  is  fair  to 
presume,  that  the  trader  clears  from  $4  to  $6  on  each  robe. 

When  I  lived  with  the  Santees  it  was  not  yet  the  trading 
season ;  but  I  have  often  seen  the  Crows  and  Pawnees  trade  on 
a  large  scale.  This  is  generally  done  in  the  fall ;  and  not  un- 
frequently  a  single  trader  will  secure  as  many  as  one  thousand 
robes.  These  cost  him  only  $1,250  in  goods,  and  he  can  sell 
them  in  the  East  for  $5,000  to  $6,000  in  cash.  The  Indians 


Body-robe. 


IP1111' 


BELDEN  :    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  125 

do  not  want  money,  but  goods;  and  the  trader  keeps  con 
stantly  on  hand  a  large  assortment  of  Indian  traps.  The  arti 
cles  generally  sought  for  by  the  savages  are  the  following : 

Red,  white,  blue,  black,  and  green  Mackanaw  blankets. 

Red  and  blue  "  squaw-cloth,"  which  is  a  flannel  of  various 
colors,  and  costs  $4  per  yard. 

Red,  white,  blue,  black,  green,  yellow,  and  purple  worsted, 
in  one  pound  skeins.  This  is  used  for  making  tassels  and  rib 
bons. 

Cotton  thread,  flax  thread,  and  needles. 

Blue  and  striped  bed-ticking,  used  by  the  squaws  for  making 
dresses. 

Cotton  and  worsted  shawls ;  very  small,  and  worn  over  the 
shoulders,  and  around  the  neck. 

Balmoral  skirts  of  the  most  brilliant  colors.  I  have  also 
seen  crinoline  and  hoop-skirts  readily  sold  to  the  squaws. 

Red,  blue,  and  various  colored  handkerchiefs,  both  silk  and 
cotton. 

Lampblack,  indigo,  Chinese  vermilion,  green  and  yellow 
chrome,  and  all  kinds  of  paints. 

Gunpowder,  bullet  molds,  bullets,  and  percussion  caps. 

Brass,  copper,  and  iron  wires. 

"Wire  worms,  for  extracting  charges  from  loaded  guns. 

Brass  hawk-bells  and  brass  tacks. 

Brass  finger-rings,  jewelry,  and  buttons. 

Butcher  knives,  lead,  ax  helves,  handles,  saws,  files,  and 
hatchets.  „ 

Pipes  and  stems  of  all  kinds. 

Silver  and  gold  ear-rings. 

Brass  wristbands. 

Sugar,  tea,  coffee,  flour,  tobacco,  candy,  raisins,  and  figs. 
8 


126 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


Chip  hats,  calico,  paper  collars,  and  whisky. 

"Wampum  beads,  a  string,  one  yard  long,  being  worth  fifty 
cents.  The  trader  both  sells  and  receives  them  at  that  price 
and  they  pass  as  currency  among  the  In 
dians,  the  standard  value  being  fifty  cents 
per  yard,  if  white  or  pink,  and  if  purple, 
seventy-five  cents  per  yard.  A  wampum 
moon,  which  is  a  small  sea-shell,  out  of 
which  the  wampum  beads  are  made,  will 
sell  for  Jl. 

These  are  the  principle  articles  found  in 
every  trader's  store,  and  for  them  the  Indi 
ans  exchange  buffalo  robes,  elk,  deer,  ante 
lope,  beaver,  muskrat,  mink,  fox,  bear,  and 
many  other  kinds  of  skins. 

The  flesh  or  meat  of  the  animals  they  kill 
is  dried,  put  away  in  caches,  for  winter  use, 
and  the  hides  go  into  the  traders'  bales. 

The  average  value  of  skins  among  the 
Indians  is:  for  a  buffalo  robe,  $1.25;  for  an 
elk  skin,  Jl;  deer  and  antelope  skins,  75 
cents  each;  beaver  and  otter,  $1  each; 
wolf  cayote,  25  cents ;  muskrat,  10  cents ; 
mink,  $1. 

Great  labor  and  a  vast  deal  of  time  is  expended  in  tanning 
these  skins,  and  I  may  safely  say  that,  considering  the  amount 
of  work  put  upon  them,  they  are  the  cheapest  articles  of  trade 
in  the  world.  A  squaw  frequently  toils  a  whole  day  on  a  skin 
that  will  only  bring  her  husband  ten  cents  worth  of  goods, 
which  are  really  worth  no  more  than  five  cents  in  cash. 


Wampum. 


BELDEN:   THE  WHITE   CHIEF.  127 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

PIPES  AND  TOBACCO WHERE  DID  MEN  LEARN  TO  SMOKE  ? — THE  TOBACCO  PLANT 

WHERE  THE  ENGLISH  FOUND  IT— OLD  INDIAN  PIPES — HOW  AND  OF  WHAT  THEY 

ARE   MADE — THE   WAY   AN   INDIAN    SMOKES — CEREMONIES    IN    SMOKING THE 

TOMAHAWK  PIPE — ITS   USE — THE  PHIL.  KEARNEY  BATTLE-CLUB — A  HORRIBLE 

INSTRUMENT — PIPE    STONES — INDIAN    KINNE-KAN-NICK — HOW   IT    IS    MADE 

SUMACH  TOBACCO — THE  INDIAN'S  ACKNOWLEDGMENT  OF  GOD — TOBACCO  BAGS — 
HOW  AND  OF  WHAT    THEY  ARE   MADE — THEIR  VALUE. 

"VY7HERE  and  when  did  men  first  learn  to  smoke?  The 
sacred  Scriptures  make  no  mention  of  this  practice. 
Neither  Abraham,  Isaac,  nor  Jacob  smoked,  and  none  of  the 
old  fathers  offered  their  guests  the  pipe,  though  the  Old  and 
New  Testament  make  frequent  mention  of  food  entertainment. 
Job  set  a  good  table,  but  there  is  no  evidence  he  smoked.  God 
speaks  of  "  a  smoke  in  my  nose,"  but  this  is  the  smell  of  meat 
offerings,  and  not  tobacco  or  pipe  fumes. 

The  tobacco  plant  belongs  to  North  America,  and  has  been 
used  by  the  Aztecs  and  Indians,  from  time  immemorial.  It 
was  a  luxury  in  Powhatan's  sylvan  camp,  in  the  days  of  Poca- 
hontas.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  first  carried  it  from  America  to 
England,  in  1588,  and  to  the  English  belong  the  responsibility 
of  introducing  this  weed  to  the  civilized  world. 

As  far  back  as  we  can  trace  the  savage,  thl  pipe  has  been  his 
pride,  the  solace  of  his  leisure  and  weary  hours,  and  the  emblem 
of  his  friendship.  The  story-tellers  of  the  Indians  say,  they 


128 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


first  received  the  tobacco  plant  from  an  angel,  sent  by  the  Great 
Spirit.  They  smoked  the  leaves  in  their  pipes,  that  the  angels 
might  smell  the  fumes  and  be  pleased.  It  was  also  an  oblation 
to  the  Great  Spirit,  and  hence,  the  custom,  to  this  day,  of  pre 
ceding  all  solemn  occasions  by  much  smoking. 

The  earliest  Indian  pipe  was  curved  like  an  ox's  horn,  and 
had  no  stem.  There  was  a  hole  through  it,  and  the  tobacco 
was  put  in  the  large  end. 
In  smoking  this  pipe, 
the  Indian  laid  on  his 
back.  The  next  form 
of  pipe  used,  was  that 
of  the  body  of  a  man, 
the  stem  of  the  pipe 
being  placed  in  the  small 
of  the  back.  This  de 
sign  was  got  from  the 
idols,  which  the  Indians 
cut  out  of  stone.  The 
first  attempt  at  orna 
menting  the  pipe  was, 
to  make  it  in  imitation  An  Indian  and  his  piP« 

of  the  snake.  The  tobacco  was  placed  in  the  mouth  of  the  reptile, 
the  tail  answered  for  a  stem,  and  the  body  was  carved  to  represent 
the  scales.  The  highest  art  ever  attained  in  carving  an  Indian 
pipe  was  to  cut  a  rude  imitation  of  a  lizard  on  the  front  of  the  bowl. 

The  warrior's  pipe,  of  the  present  day,  is  made  of  red  clay,  or 
soap-stone,  which  is  found  in  nearly  every  part  of  the  American 
continent.  There*are  some  stones  that  are  held  in  great  esti 
mation  by  the  Indians,  for  making  pipes.  The  quarry,  four 
miles  below  the  falls  of  Sioux  River,  between  Dakota  and  the 


BELDEN  :   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


129 


State  of  Iowa,  is  held  in  high  repute.  The  soft  red  clay,  or 
soap-stone,  on  the  Iowa  shore  of  the  Missouri,  and  found  on  the 
Yellowstone  Make,  also  makes  beautiful  pipes.  This  stone  is  soft 
when  taken  out,  but  rapidly  becomes  hard  when  exposed  to  the  air. 
Indians  make  their  pipes  with  the  common  jack-knife.  The 
bowl  is  long,  deep,  and  eight  square,  or  round.  The  shape  of 

the  pipe  is  a  rectangle,  and  the 
hole  for  the-  stem  is  bored  with 
an  iron  rod,  or  sharp  piece  of 
stone.  The  pipes  are  of  all  sizes, 
some  of  them  being  very  large,  but 
all  have  the  same  elbow. 

The  stems  are  of  various  lengths 
}and  shapes,  but  those  most  com 
monly  in  use  are  made  of  a  hollow 
stick,  or  one  through  which  a  hole 

has  been  drilled.     They  are  fully  three  feet  long,  an  inch  in 
diameter,  and  ornamented  with  brass 
tacks,  wire  wrappings,  and  paintings. 

The  Santees,  Ogallalas,  and  Yank- 
tons  use  a  flat  stem,  very  long  and  very 
thick.  They  are  sometimes  three  inches 
broad,  and  ornamented  at  both  ends 
with  bright  feathers.  Rows  of  ver 
milion,  green,  duck,  and  gold-colored 
eagle  quills,  are  split  and  fastened  with 
glue,  by  their  flat  surfaces,  to  the  stem 
of  the  pipe,  and  the  ends  are  then 
wrapped  with  wire.  Carvings  of  birds. 
beasts,  fishes,  and  men,  are  cut  on  the 
bowls  and  stems,  and  filled  with  paint.  Modern  Indian  pips. 


130 


BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


Besides  the  red-stone  pipe,  the  Indians  use  the  hammer  and 
tomahawk  pipe,  made  of  iron.  Nearly  all  the  tomahawks  seen 
in  civilization  are  made  by  blacksmiths,  employed  by  the  gov 
ernment,  and  sent  out  to  the  Indians.  The  friendly  savages, 

for  whom  they  are  manufac 
tured,  trade  them  to  their  war 
like  brethren,  and  thus  they 
become  scattered  far  and  wide. 
These  tomahawks,though  often 
Fine  Pipes.  carried  in  their  belts,  are  sel 

dom  used  by  Indians  as  weapons,  and,  notwithstanding  they 
have  passed  into  history  as  a  deadly  instrument,  they  are  more 
for  ornament  than  use.  It  frequently  happens,  however,  that 
the  tomahawks  made  at  the  agencies,  for  friendly  tribes,  are 
captured  by  hostile  Indians,  and  these  savages,  in  their  Contests 
with  the  whites,  sometimes  use  their  toma 
hawks  to  brain  captives,  hence,  the  dread  of 
them,  and  the  bloody  name  they  bear. 

The  instrument  generally  used  by  Indians 
in  killing  captives,  is  the  war-club,  made  of 
oak  or  iron  wood,  and  fully  described  in 
another  place.  An  oaken  club  of  this  kind 
was  once  shown  me,  that  had  been  used  by 
the  Indians,  at  the  massacre  of  Fort  Phil. 
Kearney,  in  the  Powder  River  country,  in 
1866,  to  break  the  skulls  of  ninety-six  soldiers  Tomahawk  Pipe, 
and  citizens.  The  club  was  a  rough  stick,  and  the  knots  and 
end  were  still  clotted  with  blood,  brains,  and  human  hair.  This 
deadly  instrument  was  made  of  burr  oak,  was  three  feet  long, 
shaped  like  a  bat  for  ball  playing,  and  driven  full  of  nails,  some 
of  which  were  bent  over  to  form  a  loop,  or  hook. 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  131 

To  return  to  our  subject,  the  Indian  pipe  is  not  valued  by  its 
possessor  so  much  on  account  of  the  material  it  contains,  as  its 
history.  Thus,  a  little,  dirty-looking  pipe,  which  I  saw  in  the 
hands  of  a  Santee  squaw,  was  valued  at  three  ponies,  or  one 
American  horse,  three  squaws,  or  their  equivalent,  $150.00, 
because  it  had  been  owned  by  her  grandfather,  and  her  great 
grandfather,  who  was  a  great  medicine  man. 

The  Sioux  women  smoke,  though  a  young  woman  is  seldom 
seen  with  a  pipe,  and  most  of  the  smoking  is  confined  to  the 
men.  Warriors  smoke  as  a  part  of  their  religious  duty,  and  an 
acknowledgment  of  an  all-wise  Creator.  All  treaties  and  acts 
of  friendship  are  preceded  by  smoking,  which  calls  God  to  wit 
ness  the  sincerity  of  the  Indian's  heart.  No  important  trade  can 
be  made,  or  message  delivered,  until  the  parties  have  smoked  ; 
and  when  Indians  meet  together,  for  pleasure  or  business,  the 
first  thing  done  is,  to  fill  the  pipe,  hand  it  to  the  eldest  man 
present,  when  another  seizes  a  fire-brand,  holds  it  to  the 
bowl,  and  the  father  smokes.  The  Indian  who  holds  the 
pipe  in  his  mouth  can  seldom  light  it,  on  account  of  the  great 
length  of  the  stem,  and  hence  he  requires  the  aid  of  some 
one  else.  When  the  father  has  drawn  in  a  mouthful  of  smoke, 
he  forces  it  out  through  his  nose,  turning  his  face  to  the  east, 
then  the  west,  north,  and  south.  He  thus  makes  a  smoke-offer 
ing  to  the  Great  Spirit,  and  having  done  so,  passes  the  pipe 
•to  the  Indian  next  on  his  left.  Each  warrior  takes  but  two  or 
three  whiffs,  before  passing  the  pipe  to  his  neighbor.  One  pipe 
is  sufficient  for  five  or  six  smokes.  And  not  only  do  five  or  six 
Indians  smoke  from  the  same  pipe,  but  they  inhale  the  smoke, 
and  pass  it  through  their  noses,  instead  of  blowing  it  away,  as 
white  men  do.  An  Indian  says  a  white  man  does  not  know 

how  to  enjoy  a  smoke.    Indians  do  not  talk  while  smoking,  but 

12 


132  BELDEN  :   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

chat  gayly  while  others  are  passing  the  pipe.  When  the  pipe  is 
exhausted,  it  is  refilled,  and  the  first  smoker  of  the  new  pipe 
always  makes  a  smoke-offering  to  the  deity. 

The  Indians  make  much  of  their  wild  tobacco,  made  from  the 
bark  of  trees.  The  Sioux,  Omahas,  Winnebagoes,  Cheyennes, 
Arrapahoes,  and  Ottoes,  use  willow  bark.  The  squaws  gather 
a  bundle  of  the  largest-sized  shoots,  and  carry  them  to  the  tee 
pee,  where  the  wind  does  not  blow,  and  there  scrape  off  the  bark 
with  a  knife.  First  the  outside  coating  is  taken  off,  which  is 
ihrown  away ;  the  soft  inner  bark  is  then  scraped  into  a  piece  of 
rawhide,  and  left  to  dry.  It  is  of  a  greenish  color,  and  emits 
a  pleasant  smell.  The  fall  of  the  year  is  the  season  for  gather 
ing  the  willow  bark,  as  the  sap  is  then  going  down,  and  the 
bark  is  mild  and  more  pleasant  to  smell  than  if  peeled  in  sum 
mer.  When  dry,  the  squaws  grease  their  hands  with  buffalo 
fat,  and  then  crush  the  bark  until  it  is  pulverized  fine  enough 
for  the  pipes.  The  grease  adhering  to  the  particles  of  bark 
makes  it  burn  freely.  Each  squaw  puts  up  several  pounds  of 
this  bark,  for  the  use  of  her  warrior,  and  I  have  known  Indians 
to  travel  a  hundred  miles  for  the  purpose  of  gathering  cham- 
pa-sha. 

The  Pawnee  Indians  use  the  red  leaves  of  the  sumach  bush 
for  tobacco.  It  abounds  on  the  plains,  in  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
and  on  many  streams  east  of  the  Missouri.  This  kind  of  to 
bacco  is  called  "Lup-pitch,"  and  the  Pawnees  greatly  prefer  it 
to  the  "  Lup-pa-hot,"  or  "  Cham-pa-sha,"  which  is  the  Sioux 
Kinne-kan-nick. 

The  Crows,  or  Absaracks,  use  a  grean  leaf,  which  grows  on  a 
running  vine,  in  the  mountains.  This  leaf  is  found  above  the 
perpetual  snow  line,  and  is  called  O-pe-sha  by  the  Indians,  and 
Lair  bra  I  y  the  whites.  The  vine  runs  on  the  ground,  has  a 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  133 

pear-shaped  leaf,  and  resembles  the  pig- weed  of  the  north.  It 
is  an  evergreen,  blossoming  in  the  winter,  on  beds  of  snow,  and 
bears  bright  red  berries,  of  the  size  of  a  pea.  The  berries  are 
sour,  very  hard,  and  always  retain  their  color. 

The  O-pe-sha  is  mixed  with  tobacco^  when  the  Indians  can 
get  it,  and  is  smoked,  half  and  half  of  each. 

The  Sioux  have  three  substitutes  for  tobacco ;  first,  the  leaves 
of  the  wild  rose  bush ;  second,  the  leaves  of  a  bushy  weed,  which 
grows  in  the  cations,  or  valleys  of  the  west ;  and  third,  the  small 
curled  leaf  of  the  dwarf  sumach.  These  leaves  are  rolled  up 
like  minute  rolls  of  tobacco,  and  when  crushed,  it  is  impossible 
to  tell  them  from  cut  and  dry.  Indians,  whether  alone  or  in 
company,  always  observe  the  solemnities  of  smoking.  Never 
does  a  Sioux  Indian  light  his  pipe  but  he  draws  a  great  puif 
of  smoke,  and  blows  it  out  of  his  mouth  toward  the  sky,  ejacu 
lating,  How-wa-con-ton-ka,  meaning, "  I  remember  thee,  O  God/' 
or  "  To  thee,  O  Great  Spirit,"  at  the  same  time  pointing  with 
the  stem  of  the  pipe  upward. 

The  Winnebagoes  blow  two  puffs  toward  the  sky,  two  to  the 
east,  two  west,  two  south,  and  one  down,  following  each  with 
the  stem  of  the  pipe  pointing  in  that  direction.  At  the  same 
time  they  mutter  "  O  God,  propitiate  the  winds  of  the  east,  the 
west,  and  south,  and  bless  the  earth." 

The  Crows  blow  a  buff  of  smoke  to  the  sky,  one  east,  and  one 
west,  meaning,  "  O  Great  Strength,  I  remember  thee,  from  the 
rising  to  the  setting  of  the  sun  "  (How-ba-tsa-ka).  The  Chey- 
ennes  make  the  same  offering  as  the  Sioux,  but  uses-  a  different 
speech.  There  is  no  set  term,  but  generally  such  expressions  as 
"  O  thou  God,  keep  me."  "  God  defend  me  from  all  harm." 
"  O  God,  see  me,"  are  used.  When  on  the  war  path,  they  pray, 
"  God  send  us  our  enemies. "  The  Arrapahoes  blow  a  puff  of 


134 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


smoke  upward,  and  pointing  with  their  pipes,  say,  "  God,  re 
member  us  on  earth,"  or  "  God  and  us." 

The  tobacco  for  their  pipes  is  carried  by 
the  Indians  in  pouches,  or  bags,  made  of  the 
skins  of  wild  animals,  buckskin,  or  calico, 
ornamented  with  porcupine  quills.  The  pouches 
are  sometimes  five  inches  wide,  and  eigh 
teen  to  twenty  inches  long.  They  are  carried 
with  the  mouth  of  the  pouch  under  the  belt, 
and  hang  down,  generally  having  the  tail  dang 
ling,  if  the  bag  is  made  of  the  skin  of  an  animal. 
Nearly  all  the  pouches  are  ornamented  with 
fringe,  or  bead  pendants,  four  or  five  inches 
long.  The  value  of  a  tobacco  bag,  of  course, 
depends  on  its  workmanship;  a  fine  buckskin 
bag,  ornamented  with  beads,  and  fifteen  days' 
labor,  is  worth  $3.00 ;  a  mink-skin  pouch  is 
worth  $4.00;  an  elk-skin,  worked  with  porcu 
pine  quills,  $5.00,  and  an  otter  kitten  as  much  Tobacco  Pouch, 
as  $6.00. 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  135 


CHAPTER   XV. 

TRAPPING — WHEN  THE  INDIANS  LEARNED  THE  ART  OP  TRAPPING — HOW  TO 
SET  THE  TRAPS— A  TRAPPER* S  LIFE — HARD  WORK — NUMBER  OP  BEAVER 
USUALLY  TAKEN  WITH  A  DOZEN  TRAPS — INDIAN  PECULIARITIES — CROW  SU 
PERSTITION  ABOUT  THE  BEAR — THE  CROW  CHIEF,  IRON  BULL — SIOUX  SUPER 
STITION  ABOUT  THE  PRAIRIE  DOG — WHAT  THIS  ANIMAL  REALLY  IS — A  CASE 
OP  PREJUDICE — BEAR  CLAWS. 

STRANGE  as  it  may  seem,  it  is  none  the  less  true,  that 
the  Indians  learned  the  art  of  trapping  from  white  men. 
Long  ago  they  stole  along  the  banks  of  the  creeks,  and,  hiding 
in  the  brush,  waited  patiently  for  the  beaver  to  show  himself 
in  the  shallow  water  or  on  the  banks,  when  they  shot  him. 
This  process  was  very  tedious,  however,  and  they  longed  for 
some  other  manner  of  capturing  the  smooth-haired  little  animal, 
so  it  was  with  much  satisfaction  that  they  saw  the  white  men  go 
along  the  streams,  and  set  a  curious  instrument  in  the  ground, 
to  which  the  beaver  came,  and  which  held  him  fast  until  the 
trapper  saw  fit  to  take  him  out. 

Sly  Indians  watched  the  process  from  their  bushy  cover,  and 
when  the  trapper  had  gone  away,  they  stole  the  trap  and  car 
ried  it  off  to  their  camps.  It  was  a  long  time  before  the  In 
dians  could  set  their  traps,  and  not  until  the  white  men  taught 
them,  that  they  learned  how  to  sit  in  the  still  moonlight  and 
watch  the  beaver  work ;  how  to  walk  on  the  ice  and  see  if  there 


136  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

were  beaver  holes  or  houses,  and  then,  when  having  ascertained 
the  presence  of  the  coy  little  fellow,  how  to  put  the  trap  down, 
grease  it  with  the  oil  of  his  own  tail,  and  leave  it  to  snare  him. 

A  trap  weighs  about  five  pounds,  and  it  is  considered  a  good 
load  to  carry  twelve.  It  will  require  a  walk  of  ten  or  twelve 
miles,  and  all  of  one  day,  to  set  a  dozen  traps  properly.  If 
three  beavers  are  caught  each  night  for  every  dozen  traps  set 
the  trapper  considers  he  is  doing  a  good  business.  The  skins, 
untanned,  are  worth  about  one  dollar  each.  During  the  winter 
season  the  hunter  will  average  not  over  four  beavers  per  week, 
for  there  are  many  days  he  can  not  trap.  I  had  one  hundred 
traps  worked  hard  for  three  months,  often  floundering  through 
the  ice,  getting  wet  to  my  waist,  and  having  to  build  fires  to 
keep  from  perishing,  and  at  the  end  of  ninety  days  had  but 
fifty  beaver  skins,  worth  fifty  dollars,  for  my  labor.  Still  there 
is  something  jolly  about  a  trapper's  life,  a  wild,  roving  excite 
ment  that  strangely  allures  and  fascinates  one.  "Why  it  is  I 
o.an  not  tell,  but  most  frontiersmen  love  trapping,  and  will  pur 
sue  it,  even  though  they  take  but  a  dozen  beaver  per  month ; 
just  as  I  have  seen  sportsmen  go,  day  after  day,  in  the  East, 
to  angle  in  a  little  stream,  when  they  knew  there  were  not 
twenty  trout  from  its  mouth  to  its  source. 

The  setting  of  the  trap  is  a  delicate  job,  and  every  trace  of 
it  must  be  concealed,  or  the  cunning  little  animal  will  not  fall 
into  it.  Each  Indian  saves  the  musk  of  all  the  beavers  he 
takes,  and  with  this  rubs  his  traps,  so  that  the  beaver  may 
smell  them,  come  up,  and  fall  a  prey.  When  a  beaver  smells 
another,  he  has  great  curiosity  to  know  where  he  is,  and  so  runs 
about  looking  for  him,  until  he  treads  on  the  fatal  spring  and 
is  caught. 

After  an  Indian  has  set  his  traps,  he  becomes  very  morose, 


BELDEN:   THE    WHITE   CHIEF.  137 

and  goes  to  his  tent  and  smokes  a  great  deal.  He  does  not  run 
about  the  village  or  talk,  but  sits  alone,  endeavoring  to  think 
of  his  traps  all  the  time,  for  thereby  he  believes  he  will  draw 
the  beaver  tc  them.  When  he  lays  down  to  sleep,  he  recalls  all 
the  battles  and  skirmishes  in  which  he  has  been  engaged,  and 
tries  to  dream  of  them.  If  he  dreams  that  he  is  victorious,  then 
he  rises  and  goes  confidently  to  his  traps,  but  if  he  sees  a  dead 
or  live  beaver  in  his  dream,  he  will  not  visit  his  traps  next  day, 
for  he  knows  by  his  vision  that  there  are  no  beaver  in  them. 
Should  he  imagine  he  is  fighting  five  men  and  whip  them,  there 
are. five  beavers  in  his  traps,  but  if  only  two  men,  then  there 
are  but  two  beavers.  Should  he  meet  men  who  run  away  from 
him  in  his  dreams,  it  is  unlucky,  for  the  beaver  have  run  away 
with  his  traps  into  their  holes. 

The  otter  does  not  abound  along  the  Missouri,  in  Nebraska, 
where  I  trapped,  but  sometimes  we  caught  one  in  the  traps  set 
in  the  edge  of  the  water  for  beaver.  The  otter's  skin  is  much 
more  valuable  than  that  of  the  beaver.  I  never  saw  an  Indian 
trapping  for  any  other  animal  than  the  beaver,  though  they 
often  shoot  otter,  mink,  and  muskrat  with  the  bow.  The  arrow 
will  generally  prevent  them  from  getting  into  their  holes,  being 
shot  with  sufficient  force  to  pierce  the  animal. 

The  Crow  Indians  will  neither  trap  nor  hunt  the  bear.  They 
believe  it  is  bad  luck  to  kill  a  bear,  and  will  not  touch  the  food. 
A  party  of  hunters,  who  induced  the  Crow  chief,  Iron  Bull,  to 
eat  bear  meat  by  representing  to  him  that  it  was  roast  beef, 
came  near  paying  with  their  lives  for  the  deception,  for  the  old 
chief  found  out  the  trick  that  had  been  put  upon  him,  became 
very  wroth,  and  it  took  a  present  of  several  ponies  to  get  the 
bad  medicine  out  of  him.  The  Crows  say  the  bear  has  a  spirit 
in  him,  and  to  kill  it  offends  the  great  Wa-con  Ton-ka.  If  a 


138  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

Crow  meets  a  bear,  when  out  hunting,  he  will  go  around  him, 
and  if  the  bear  attacks  him  he  will  run  away. 

The  Sioux  both  hunt  and  kill  the  bear,  and  are  very  fond  of 
the  meat.  They  use  the 
skin  for  robes,  and  wear 
the  claws  strung  around 
their  necks  as  orna 
ments.  What  the  Crows 
believe  of  the  bear,  the  Sioux  Necklace. 

Sioux  do  of  the  prairie  dog.  They  will  not  kill  or  allow  any 
one  to  hurt  this  little  animal,  and  if  they  see  any  person  kill 
one,  they  run  away  lest  it  makes  them  have  bad  luck.  The 
prairie  dog  is  nothing  more  or  less  than  a  prairie  squirrel,  and 
runs  on  the  ground  instead  of  climbing  trees,  as  does  the  black 
and  gray  squirrel  of  the  North.  I  have  often  eaten  the  prairie 
dog,  and  his  flesh  is  precisely  like  that  of  the  squirrel.  There  is 
a  prejudice  against  eating  this  little  animal  on  account  of  its 
name,  but  in  this  case,  unlike  most  others,  every  thing  is  in 
the  name. 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  139 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

CALPINH WHY  THE  INDIANS  SGALP  PEOPLE — A  SINGULAR  BELIEF — NO  BALD- 
HEADS  xN  HEAVEN — THE  SCALP-LOCK — HOW  THE  PAWNEES,  SIOUX,  AND  WIN- 
NEBAGOES  WEAR  THEIR  HAIR — OTHER  INDIANS — ORNAMENTS  FOR  THE  HAIR 

— THH    SILVER    TAILS A  SIOUX    LONG  TAIL — THE    IRON    RING    ORNAMENT 

HOW  TO  TAKE  IT  OFF — DOES  IT  PULL  ? — THE  SCALPING-KNIFE — A  PRESERVED 


TTTHEN  the  Indians  first  began  ^p  scalp  people,  or  where 
'  *  they  got  the  idea  of  cutting  off  the  scalp-lock,  it  is 
impossible  to  tell,  but  it  has  been  practiced  among  all  tribes 
ever  since  the  discovery  of  America,  in  1492.  The  savages  be 
lieve  that  no  one  can  make  a  respectable  appearance  in  the 
spirit  land  baldheaded.  It  is  remarkable,  but  I  never  saw  a 
baldheaded  Indian,  nor  did  I  ever  hear  of  one.  To  scalp  an 
Indian  is  to  debar  him  from  the  happy  hunting-grounds,  and 
hence  it  is  they  scalp  white  people,  believing  they  can  not  get 
into  heaven  without  their  hair. 

The  Indians  do  not  all  scalp  people  alike;  nor  do  they  wear 
their  own  hair  alike.  The  Sioux  warrior  has  a  three-strand 
braid  or  plait  of  hair  taken  up  on  the  crown  of  his  head,  over 
a  space  of  three  inches  in  diameter  and  nine  inches  in  circum 
ference  ;  and  this  it  is  that  his  enemies  cut  off  when  they  cap 
ture  him. 

18 


140 


BELDEN :    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


A  Preserved  Scalp. 


The  Winnebagoes  wear  six  or  seven  braids,  and  it  is  neces 
sary  to  cut  the  skin  around  three  or  four  inches  on  the  crown,  in 

order  to  get  a  full  scalp.  The  Paw 
nees  have  but  one  braid,  the  Chey- 
ennes  one,  the  Crows* one,  and  the 
Arrapahoes  one.  The  Sioux  part 
the  hair  in  the  middle  of  the  fore 
head,  and  then  down  to  the  ear 
from  the  scalp-lock;  this  they  woai 
with  the  hair  behind,  made  into 
rolls,  and  tied  with  red  flannel  01 
ribbon.  I  have  seen  the  hair 
wound  about  strips  of  flannel  or 
buckskin,  and  made  into  a  roll  'as 
thick  as  one's  wrist,  and  over  three  feet  long. 

Many  of  the  Pawnees  cut  the  hair  close  to  the  skull  all 
around,  leaving  a  ridge  or  shock 
of  hair  three  inches  wide  running 
from  front  to  rear  over  the  top  of 
the  head.  This  strip  of  hair  grad 
ually  lessens  in  width,  until  it 
reaches  an  edge  in  rear  near  the 

Scalping-knife  and  Sheath. 

back  of  the  neck.      It  gives  the 

warriors  a  fierce  and  unnatural  appearance.  In  the  center  of 
the  ridge  of  hair  grows  the  long  scalp-lock,  which  is  plaited  and 
falls  down  the  back.  I  speak  now  of  the  custom  when  the 
Pawnees  were  savages.  Since  they  have  become  friendly,  they 
seldom  shave  the  head,  but  wear  their  hair  long  and  unplaited. 
This  is  done,  however,  as  much  from  policy  as  for  any  other 
reason,  for  they  are  still  rascals  and  thieves ;  and  they  found 
wearing  their  hair  unlike  any  other  tribe  on  the  plains  caused 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  141 

them  often  to  be  detected  in  their  depredations,  when  they 
might  otherwise  have  escaped  and  avoided  punishment. 

The  Crows,  except  the  scalp-braid,  wear  their  hair  long,  and 
hanging  down.  To  keep  it  from  blowing  about  their  eyes, 
they  take  little  balls  of  pitch,  such  as  ooze  out  of  the  pine- 
tree,  and  stick  it  in  tbeir  hair  in  belts  an  inch  wide,  until  it  is 
matted  together  all  around  their  heads. 

Nearly  all  Indians  have  black  hair;  the  hair  of  the  Chey- 
ennes,  Sioux,  Snakes,  Pawnees,  Omahas,  Arrapahoes,  and  Win- 
nebagoes  is  jet  black,  and  very  coarse.  The  Crow  Indians, 
however,  have  hair  of  every  color.  I  have  seen  full-blooded 
Crows  with  auburn,  red,  gray,  brown,  and  black  hair.  Many 
of  their  old  rn&i  are  white-headed,  and  their  long  hair  gives 
them  a  very  venerable  appearance. 

The  Winnebagoes  are  the  only  Indians  who  can,  at  the 
present  day,  be  distinguished  by  means  of  their  scalp-locks. 
They  still  persist  in  wearing  the  six  or  seven  long  plaits  around 
their  heads. 

Nearly  all  tribes  wear  some  ornament  in  the  scalp-lock  next 
to  the  head.  These  are  made  of  wood,  copper,  iron,  brass,  sil 
ver,  and  gold,  but  most  generally  of  silver.  I  have  seen  a 
piece  of  thin  german  silver,  as  large  as  a  man's  hand,  in  the 
scalp-lock,  the  hair  having  been  drawn  through  two  holes 
in  its  center.  It  is  also  tied  to  the  hair  with  strings,  and 
not  unfrequently  has  a  long  feather  attached,  called  the  scalp- 
feather.  This  feather  can  be  taken  off  and  put  on  at  pleasure ; 
it  is  nearly  always  taken  off  at  night,  as  the  warrior  would  un 
doubtedly  break  or  soil  it  in  his  sleep  if  left  in  the  hair.  In 
war  times,  if  this  feather  is  stolen  or  snatched  off  by  an  enemy, 
the  warrior  is  irreparably  disgraced. 

Some. wild  Indians  wear  a  steel   or  iron  ring   in   the  scalp- 

9  • 


142 


BELDEN:    THE    WHITE   CHIEF. 


lock,  the  liair  being  plaited  around  the  ring  in  such  a  way  that 

it  can  not  be  removed,  un-  ^ 

less  the  hair   is  unbraided 

or  the  scalp-lock  cut  off.     I 

have    often     removed    the 

ring  by  taking  off  a  piece 

of  the  scalp,  which  is  the 

simplest  form  of  getting  it. 

To  the  ring  the  feather  is 

tied  with  a  buckskin  string, 

so   that  it   be   removed    at 

will. 

The  Sioux  have  long  had 
the  name  of  "  long  tails,"  a 
distinction  given  them  by 
frontiersmen  and  emigrants, 
on  account  of  their  wearing 
a  strap  six,  or  even  seven, 
/eet  long  attached  to  their 
scalp-lock,  and  hanging 
down  their  backs.  This 
trails  on  the  ground  when 
they  walk,  or  sails  in  the  wind  behind  them  when  they  ride  at 
full  speed.  The  scalp-lock,  as  well  as  the  strap,  was  generally 
covered  with  tin  or  silver  plates,  made  round,  and  fastened  on 
six  or .  seven  inches  apart.  Most  of  these  circular  plates  were 
made  of  silver  dollars,  beaten  out  thin. 

A  Sioux  is  very  proud  of  his  scalp-lock  and  tail ;  and  I  have 
seen  as  many  as  twenty  dollars  on  the  hair  and  strap.  The 
whole  weight  of  the  tail  is  borne  by  the  roots  of  their  hair, 
and,  as  it  sometimes  weighs  several  pounds,  it  must,  pull  a 


Silver  Long  Tail  and  Scalp-Feather. 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  143 

little  at  first.*  To  tramp  on  a  Sioux's  long  tail,  or  pull  it, 
would  be  a  mortal  offense,  and  demand  the  shedding  of  blood 
to  wipe  out  such  an  insult.  When  one  Sioux  pulls  another 
one's  scalp-lock,  it  is  equivalent  to  the  sending  of  a  challenge 

among  white  men. 

i 

*  Mr.  Belden  showed  the  editor  of  these  papers  a  magnificent  belt,  made 
from  the  silver  he  had  taken  off  a  Sioux  "  long  tail."  The  silver  weighed 
cue  pound,  and  the  strap  to  which  it  had  been  fastened  three-fourths  of  a 
pound.  The  whole  weight  had  been  sustained  by  a  small  wisp  of  hair  in 
the  top  of  a  warrior's  head. 


144  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

PAINTING  THE  FACE — INDIAN  TASTE — THE  LONE  PAINT — SCALP  PAINT — PARTING 
THE  HAIR — HOW  INDIAN  GIRLS  PAINT — LOTS  PAINT — A  CAUSE  OF  EXCITE 
MENT — LAUGHABLE  MISTAKES — THE  INDIAN  BELLE — HER  DISAPPOINTMENT — 
THE  SIOUX  DEATH  PAINT — CROW  AND  SNAKE  COLORINGS — LOOKING-GLASSES — 
NATURAL  MIRRORS — A  SIOUX  BEAUTY  SURPRISED — HER  MORTIFICATION  AND 
MODESTY. 

fTlHE  painting  of  the  face  and  body  is  a  very  ancient  custom 
-*-  among  the  Indians.  The  early  discoverers  of  the  continent 
found  the  Indians  using  paints,  made  of  clay  and  stone,  to  beau 
tify,  as  they  thought,  their  persons ;  and  none  were  more  hide 
ously  painted  than  the  Caribbean  Indians,  who  were  among 
the  earliest  savages  known  to  Europeans.  There  is  not,  to  my 
knowledge,  a  tribe  in  the  West,  however  civilized,  that  does  not 
yet  use  paints. 

The  Yanktons,  Sioux,  Santees,  and  Cheyennes  use  a  great 
deal  of  paint.  A  Santee  squaw  paints  her  face  the  same  as  a 
white  woman  does,  only  with  less  taste.  If  she  wishes  to 
appear  particularly  taking,  she  draws  a  red  streak,  half  an  inch 
wide,  from  ear  to  ear,  passing  it  over  the  eyes,  the  bridge  of  the 
nose,  and  along  the  middle  of  the  cheek.  When  a  warrior 
desires  to  be  left  alone,  he  takes  black  paint,  or  lamp-black, 
and  smears  his  face ;  then  he  draws  zig-zag  lines  from  his  hair 
to  his  chin,  by  scraping  off  the  paint  with  his  nails.  This  is 
a  sign  that  he  is  trapping,  is  melancholly,  or  in  love.  There 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  145 

is,  however,  no  general  meaning  attached  to  the  painting  of 
the  head  or  body  by  many  Indians — any  more  than  there  is  by 
white  men  parting  their  hair  on  the  side  of  the  head,  instead 
of  in  the  middle.  All  Indians,  both  men  and  women,  part 
their  hair  in  the  middle ;  the  men  paint  red  that  part  of  the 
scalp  exposed  by  parting  the  hair. 

The  sign  paints  used  by  the  Indians  are  not  numerous,  but 
very  significant.  When  the  warriors  return  from  the  war-path, 
and  have  been  successful  in  bringing  back  scalps,  the  squaws, 
as  well  as  the  men,  paint  with  vermilion  a  semicircle  in  front 
of  each  ear.  The  bow  of  the  arc  is  toward  the  nose,  and  the 
points  of  the  half  circle  on  the  top  and  bottom  of  the  ear; 
the  eyes  are  then  reddened,  and  all  dance  over  the  scalps. 

A  warrior  who  is  courting  a  squaw,  usually  paints  his  eyes 
yellow  and  blue,  and  the  squaw  paints  hers  red.  I  have  known 
squaws  to  go  through  the  painful  operation  of  reddening  the 
eye-balls,  that  they  might  appear  particularly  fascinating  to  the 
young  men.  A  red  stripe  drawn  horizontally  from  one  eye  to 
the  other,  means  that  the  young  warrior  has  seen  a  squaw  he 
could  love,  if  she  would  reciprocate  his  attachment.  Of  course 
such  an  advertisement  naturally  creates  a  flutter  in  the  village, 
and  sets  every  young  feminine  heart  to  aching,  and  tongue  to 
inquiring,  if  its  possessor  is  the  person  meant.  Some  laughable, 
mistakes  have  occurred  with  this  paint,  and  many  bitter  disap 
pointments.  I  once  heard  of  a  famous  Indian  belle,  who  loved 
a  young  warrior,  and  employed  every  feminine  art  known  in 
savage  love,  to  entrap  his  affections.  One  day  the  young 
man  mounted  the  love  paint,  and  the  Indian  girl  was  so  sure 
her  charms  had  been  effective,  that  she  told  her  friends  she 
would  soon  be  married,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to  hint  the 
same  to  the  young  warrior.  Imagine  her  chagrin  and  dia- 


146  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

appointment,  when 'he  politely  and  frankly  informed  her,  that, 
not  she,  but  a  very  plain  girl  in  the  village,  was  the  person 
meant  by  his  paint. 

The  Sioux  have  a  paint  with  which  they  smeare  their  faces, 
when  about  to  pass  sentence  of  death  on  any  one,  but  as  this 
paint  is  put  on  in  the  council  chamber,  I  have  never  been 
able  to  learn  what  it  was  like,  or  in  what  form  it  was  used. 

The  Crow  and  Snake  Indians  paint  their  faces  red,  and 
leave  them  so  for  days,  renewing  the  coloring  as  fast  as  it 
rubs  or  wears  off.  Every  Indian  who  can  get  one,  carries  a 
small  looking-glass,  slung  to  the  wrist  by  a  buckskin  strap. 
This,  and  the  paint-bag,  are  inseparable  companions  of  both 
Indian  men  and  women.  The  girls  often  go  to  clear  streams 
and  lakes,  for  the  purpose  of  looking  at  their  reflections  in  the 
water.  I  once  accidentally  surprised  a  maiden  entirely  naked, 
gazing  at  her  fair  proportions  in  the  lake  and  she  could  never 
afterward  look  at  me  without  blushing. 


BELDEN  :    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  ]  17 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

i 

HEAD-DRESSES — HOW  THEY  ARE  MADE — THE  SKULL-CAP— THE  BUFFALO 
HR4.D-DRESS — AN  ENORMOUS  HAT — STANDING  BULL'S  HEAD-DRESS — WARRIORS 

TISITING THEIR     HAT-BOXES — AN    INDIAN    TOILET — THE    BALD    AND    BLACK 

BAGLE — THEIR     USE — VALUE    OF    EAGLE    FEATHERS — PRICE     OF    AN     INDIAN 

HEAD-GEAR FEATHER    SIGNS THEIR    USE    IN    WAR THE    SCALP-FEATHER 

AN  INDIAN  ENSIGN. 

head-dress  is  an  indispensable  article  in  the  outfit  of 
-*-  every  first-class  warrior.  They  wear  them  at  all  great 
feasts,  dances,  councils,  and  when  on  friendly  visits  of  ceremony 
to  neighboring  tribes.  They  are  generally  made  out  of  the 
skins  of  elk,  deer,  buffalo,  or  bear.  Most  of  them  are  round 
skull-caps,  ornamented  with  eagle,  crow,  or  duck  feathers. 
Take  the  half  cover  of  a  ball,  and  you  have  the  exact  idea  of  an 
Indian  warrior's  cap.  The  feathers  are  fastened  on  in  bunches 
with  sinew,  and  the  bunches  are  sewed  close  together.  They 
are  put  on  in  rows  or  layers,  the  feathers  all  lying  one  way. 
Fasten  a  dozen  feathers  by  their  middles  to  a  piece  of  leather, 
then  break  them,  so  that  both  the  top  and  butt  end  will  stand 
up,  and  put  another  bunch  on  beside  it,  and  so  on  until  the 
whole  piece  of  leather  is  covered.  Next  trim  off  the  feathers 
evenly,  leaving  them  about  three  inches  long,  and  you  will  have 
made  an  Indian  head-dress.  The  butts  of  the  quills  must  be 
cut  out  so  they  will  not  show ;  but  the  better  way  is  to  take 
only  the  tops  or  small  ends  of  the  quills,  cut  them  off  the  right 


148 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


length,  and  then  fasten  them  by  the  thick  end  to  the  cap. 
These,  when  trimmed  a  little,  will  make  a  beautiful  head 
gear. 

Most  Indian  caps  have  a  long  tail  hanging  down  behind, 
which  is  ornamented  with  little  bells  and  bright  feathers.  The 
bells  rattle  when  the  warrior  dances,  walks,  or  rides,  and  the 
feathers,  being  fastened  loosely  by  their  quill  ends,  swing  about, 
giving  him  a  picturesque  appearance.  At  the  end  of  the  tail 
are  fastened  tufts  of  hair,  colored  blue,  red,  or  yellow. 

A  very  popular  style  of  Indian  cap  is  made  of  buffalo  hide  and 
horns.  It  consists  of  a  piece  of  hide  taken  from  across  the  fore 
head  of  a  buffalo,  over  the  top 
of  his  head  along  the  back  of 
the  neck  and  down  the  spine, 
including  the  tail.  The  bone 
is  taken  out  and  the  tail 
stuffed,  when  the  piece  is  one 
unbroken  strip  from  the  head 
to  the  end  of  the  tail.  On 
each  side  of  the  head  are  set 
horns,  and  frequently  horns 
are  fastened  along  the  strip 
hanging  down  the  back.  The 
head-dress  of  the  Sioux  chief, 
Standing  Bull,  recently  killed 
by  Lieut.  Mason,  near  Fort 
McPherson,  was  over  six  feet 
long  and  carried  twelve  horns. 
As  the  whole  horns  would  be 
very  heavy,  they  are  split  from 
BuffaToTead  Dress.  top  to  base  by  saw'ng,  and  the 


BELDEN  I    THE    WHITE   CHIEF.  149 

thick  part  so  hollowed  out  as  to  make  them  comparatively  light. 
The  horns  are  highly  polished  and  set  six  or  seven  inches  apart. 
Besides  the  horns,  a  great  deal  of  bead-work,  and  eight  to  ten 
bells  are  put  on  the  head-dress.  I  have  seen  four  or  five  large 
sleigh-bells  fastened  to  the  tail,  and  not  unfrequently  the  tails 
are  as  much  as  nine  feet  long. 

AVhen  the  warriors  are  en  route  to  visit  another  tribe,  or  are 
on  the  war  path,  they  carry  their  head-dresses  with  them,  neatly 
done  up  in  a  cylindrical  bandbox,  made  of  buffalo  skin  or  raw 
hide.  These  bandboxes  are  highly  ornamented  and  fancifully 
painted.  They  are  not  so  symmetrical  and  elegant  as  the  hat 
and  bandboxes  of  Eastern  ladies  and  gentlemen,  but  resemble 
more  exactly  the  old-fashioned  churn,  with  the  dash  taken 
out. 

To  roll  up  an  Indian  head-dress,  and  put  it  in  the  drum  so 
the  feathers  will  not  get  broken  or  spoiled,  requires  as  much  skill 
as  to  pack  away  the  wardrobe  of  a  fashionable  white  woman. 
When  traveling,  the  drum  is  strapped  to  the  back  of  the  saddle, 
and  carried  as  the  old-fashioned  valise  used  to  be.  Before  en 
tering  the  village  they  are  to  visit,  the  warriors  dismount,  put 
on  their  head-dresses,  paint  their  faces,  and  arrange  their  hair. 
When  their  toilet  is  complete,  they  remount  and  ride  through 
the  town.  An  Indian  always  tries  to  accomplish  one  of  two 
things,  either  excite  the  admiration  of  the  women  or  fear  of 
the  men. 

The  American  bald  eagle  and  the  great  black  eagle  are  fre 
quently  found  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  on  the  plains,  but 
they  soar  very  high,  and  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  kill  them. 
Twelve  feathers  from  the  crown  of  a  full-grown  eagle  will  buy 
a  good  pony  among  the  Indians.  These  birds  are  much  sought 
after  in  all  tribes,  and  their  feathers  are  used  to  ornament  va- 


150 


BELDEN:    THE    WHITE   CHIEF. 


rious  articles/ as  well  as  make  head-dresses.     It  is  exceedingly 

difficult  to  buy  an  eagle  head 
dress  from  an  Indian,  and  a 
good  one  can  never  be  had 
for  less  than  two  hundred 
dollars. 

The  white  feather  of  the 
eagle's  tail  is  worn  attached 
to  the  manes  and  tails  of  the 
war  ponies.  When  return 
ing  from  the  war  path,  the 
warriors  attach  black  feath 
ers  to  the  eagle  feathers,  and 
when  riding  through  the  vil 
lage,  every  one  has  only  to 
count  the  black  feathers  to 
know  how  many  scalps  and 
by  whom  they  have  been 
taken,  the  black  feathers  in 
dicating  success  are  always 
tied  in  the  pony's  tail,  near 
the  crupper,  and  to  the  white 
eagle  feathers.  If  the  white 
eagle  feathers  are  gone,  and  only  a  black  feather  there,  it  in 
dicates  that  the  warrior  fell,  but  killed  an  enemy  before  dying. 
If  the  white  feathers  are  there  and  no  black  feathers,  it  means 
the  warrior  still  wears  his  own  scalp,  but  has  taken  none  from 
the  enemy.  When  the  expedition  has  failed  and  returns,  the 
black  feathers  are  worn  in  the  forelocks  of  the  ponies.  These 
feathers,  fluttering  in  the  wind  from  the  heads  of  the  horses, 
can  be  seen  at  an  astonishing  distance,  and  often  long  before 


Eagle  Head -Dress. 


BELDEN  :    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  151 

the  warriors  reach  the  village  the  ill-success  of  the  enterprise 
is  known. 

The  feather  worn  by  Indians  in  their  scalp-locks  is  usually 
very  long  and  symmetrical.  It  is  ornamented  with  small 
wrappings  of  porcupine  quills  at  the  butt  end,  and  the  edges 
of  the  feathers  are  sometimes  painted  green,  red,  and  yellow, 
in  bars  or  stripes,  according  to  the  fancy  of  the  wearer. 


152  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

MOCCASINS — THE  INDIANS  AS  SHOEMAKERS— HOW  MOCCASINS  ARE  MADE — WHO 
MAKE  THEM — SIOUX,  CHEYENNE,  ARRAPAHOE,  CROW,  AND  PAWNEE  SHOES— 
THEIR  SHAPE  AND  TRACKS — IMITATIVE  POWER  OF  THE  INDIAN — THE  WIN- 
NEBAGOES  AS  MANUFACTURERS — WIN  NEB  AGO  WOMEN — THEIR  COMELINESS  OP 
PERSON — HOW  THEY  BRAID  THEIR  HAIR — A  BEAUTIFUL  CUSTOM — SHELLS  OP 
OCEAN — A  SIOUX  EAR-RING — BEAD  BELT — COST  OF  SEA-SHELLS  AND  THEIR 
USE  AMONG  INDIANS — FINE  MOCCASINS. 

rilHE  Indians  are  their  own  shoemakers,  and,  with  the  lim- 
-*-  ited  means  at  their  command,  manage  to  manufacture  an 
excellent  protection  for  the  foot,  that  does  away  with  all  fear  of 
such  modern  torments  as  corns  and  bunions.  The  moccasin  is 
made  to  fit  the  foot,  and  not  the  foot  to  fit  the  moccasin,  as  is 
the  practice  among  civilized  shoemakers. 

Indian  shoes  are  made  by  the  women  and  old  men.  The 
sole  is  first  cut  out  of  rawhide,  and  then  the  uppers  are  cut 
from  buck,  antelope  or  elk  skin  tanned  very  soft  and  smooth. 
Buckskin  is  preferred  when  the  moccasin  is  to  be  ornamented 
with  beads,  and  the  upper  is  always  worked  before  it  is  at 
tached  to  the  sole. 

The  uppers  are  sewed  to  the  soles  with  a  strong  thread 
made  of  twisted  buffalo  sinew,  and  sometimes  a  double  sole 
is  sewed  on  to  protect  the  thread.  To  the  sides  and  back 
parts,  flaps  or  ears  are  fastened,  which  come  well  up  on  the 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


153 


ankles,  and  are  tied  with  strings.  Frequently  the  flaps  cover 
the  calf  of  the  leg,  and  are  fastened  at  the  top  by  two  long 
strings,  in  the  same  manner  as  a  woman  ties  her  apron.  This 
is  done  when  the  moccasin  is  made  for  hunting  or  perform 
ing  long  journeys  in,  as  the  high  tops  not  only  brace  the  leg, 
but  prevent  the  moccasin  from  slipping  on  the  foot,  and  keep 
out  the  dust,  brambles,  gravel,  cold,  and  snow. 

It  is  no  very  difficult  job  to  make  a  moccasin,  and  a  squaw 
will  cut  out  and  sew  up  a  plain  pair  in  half  a  day.  If  they 
are  beaded,  however,  it  takes  a  week  or  more  to  finish  them, 
and  those  ornamented  with  porcupine  quills  require  a  month  of 
patient  labor. 

In  the  winter  season  the  moccasins  are  made  of  buffalo 
hide  or  the  skins  of  fur-bearing  animals,  the  hair  being 
turned  inward.  The  Indians  never  wear  stockings,  but  leg 
gings,  which  are  an  excellent  substitute  when  one  has  fur  shoes 
to  cover  the  feet. 

Each  tribe  of  Indians  make  their  shoes  a  different  shape. 
"A"  is  the  moccasin  worn  by  the  Sioux,  "B"  the  Cheyennes, 
"C"  the  Arrapahoes,  "D"  the  Crows,  and  "E"  the  Paw 
nees. 


Right  Foot. 


It  will  be  observed  that  they  are  all  different  in  shape,  and  will 
make  a  different  track.     An  expert  frontiersman  can  readily 


154 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


tell  to  what  tribe  Indians  belong  by  seeing  their  tracks  in  the 
sand.  Unlike  their  arrows,  they  seldom  or  never  change  their 
moccasins.  The  follow 
ing  will  serve  to  show 
the  imitative  faculty 
and  ingenuity  of  the  In 
dians  :  One  day,  while 
in  camp,  I  saw  a  "VVin- 
nebago  squaw  weaving 
cloth  in  a  kind  of  loom. 
She  had  many  threads 
strung  to  little  sticks 
fastened  in  a  frame,  and 
through  these  threads 
she  passed  a  string  of 
beads,  pressing  the 
whole  together  compactly,  after  the  manner  of  a  weaver.  The 
different  colors  of  the  beads  were  ingeniously  arranged  to  give 
a  brilliant  effect.  I  examined  a  purse  this  girl  had  made  for 
the  trader  in  the  Santee  village,  and  it  was  really  beautiful. 
Soon  afterward  I  saw  another  purse  in  the  trader's  store  made 
by  her,  and  it  had  on  the  side  "James  Buchanan"  neatly 
worked  in  many-colored  beads.  I  asked  if  she  could  read,  and 
she  said  no,  but  showed  me  a  medal  which  had  been  given  by 
President  Buchanan  to  one  of  the  tribe  during  his  visit  to  Wash 
ington,  and  from  the  letters  on  the  medal  she  had  copied  the  name. 
The  "Winnebagoes  are  the  only  Indians  I  have  ever  met  with 
who  have  any  knowledge  of  the  manufacture  of  cloth,  and  they 
can  only  weave  such  things  as  garters,  armlets,  purses,  leggings, 
and  long,  beautiful,  white  bead-bands,  which  the  women  wear 
around  their  hair. 


Beaded  Moccasins. 


BELDEN:   THE    WHITE   CHIEF. 


155 


The  Winnebagoes  are  very  light  in  complexion,  and  many 
of  their  women  might  be  called  beautiful,  if  they  would  keep 
themselves  clean.  These  women  are  tall,  well-formed,  have 
bright  black  eyes,  and  long,  shining  black  hair.  They  take 
great  pride  in  plaiting  up  their  hair, 
winding  it  in  coils,  and  ornamenting 
it  with  bead-bands.  These  bands  are 
often  five  or  six  feet  long,  and  fringed 
with  many-colored  beads.  They  wind 
them  about  their  heads  in  an  ingenious 
way,  and  the  effect  among  their  jet-black 
hair  is  very  charming. 

The  Sioux,  unlike  the  Winnebagoes, 
never  put  up  their  hair,  but  always  al 
low  it  to  hang  down.  They  sometimes 
tie  the  ends  of  the  plaits  with  ribbon, 
or  wind  them  with  red  flannel,  but 
further  than  this  they  attempt  no  orna 
mentation  of  the  hair.  The  Sioux,  how 
ever,  are  passionately  fond  of  ear-rings, 
and  I  have  seen  as  many  as  a  hundred 
small  rings  in  a  Sioux  ear,  a  slit  being 
cut  the  whole  length  of  the  ear  to  make 
room  for  them.  Many  of  their  ear-rings 
are  very  heavy,  being  made  of  square  or 
oblong  pieces  of  California  sea-shell,  Bead-band, 

which  is  a  regular  article  of  trade  among  all  the  Rocky  Moun 
tain  tribes  of  savages.  The  shells  are  about  one-fifth  of  an 
inch  in  thickness,  five  or  six  inches  long,  and  four  inches  broad. 
They  are  shaped  like  a  saucer,  and  the  outside  is  prismatic,  the 

colors  often  merging  into  blue,  green,  pink,  and  gold.     Near 

14 


156 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


the  edge  the  shell  is  very  thin  and  delicate,  but  hard  to  break. 

The  Indians  saw  the  shell  into  pieces,  some  round,  others  square, 
oblong,  or  pendant,  and  these  they  string 
together  by  means  of  wire  passed  through 
little  holes  bored  in  the  pieces.  Brass 
beads  are  often  strung  on  the  wires,  as 
a  sort  of  washer  between  different  parts 
of  the  ear-ring,  and  beads  strung  on 
sinew  form  the  pendants.  A  large 
brass  ring  for  the  ear  generally  begins  a 
Sioux  ear  ornament,  and  to  this  are  hung 
five  or  six  pendants  made  of  beads 
btrung  on  wire;  to  these  pendants  are 
attached  a  cross-piece  of  rawhide  or  wood ; 
then  another  column  of  pendants,  to 
which  are  hung  one  large  and  two  small 
beads ;  then  another  cross-piece,  and  next 
three  large  wampum  beads^beneath  which 
is  suspended  the  piece  of  shell  that  gives 
the  ornament  its  value.  A  shell  will 
make  one  pair  of  rings,  and  it  generally 
costs  two  robea,  or  about  six  dollars  in 
cash.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  ac 
companying  illustration  represents  only 
one-third  the  actual  size  of  these  ear 
ornaments.  In  fact,  they  are  frequently 
eighteen  inches  in  length,  and  from  three 
to  four  inches  in  breadth  in  the  widest 
part.  What  the  ears  of  the  wearers  are 
made  of  is  a  mystery,  but  pride  and 
(One.tiiifd^ctura?size.)  vanity  tell  the  story  witb  the  untutored 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


157 


savage,  as  well  as  with  the  more  cultivated,  but  no  less  proud 
and  vain  dweller  in  civilized  communities. 

The  accompanying  cut  shows  the  prevailing  style  of  dressing 
the  head  for  state  occa 
sions  among  the  Crows, 
and  it  must  be  acknowl 
edged  that  it  is  much 
more  light  and  airy  and 
mores  sensible  withal,  than 
the  immense  chignon,  and 
the  frizzles  and  fruzzles  of 
the  pale  faces.  Once  in 
troduced  among  the  ladies 
of  fashion,  I  have  no 
doubt  of  the  immense 
popularity  of  the  Crow 
head-dress,  and  I  would 
seriously  recommend  it  to 
their  earnest  consideration. 
10 


Crow  Head-Dress. 


158  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTEK    XX. 

INDIAN  WOMEN — CHILD-BEARING  AMONG   THEM — PHYSICAL  ENDUEANCE   OF  THE 

SQUAW — HER     HABITS — THE     PAPOOSE — INDIAN     CRADLES HOW    THEY    ARE 

MADE — CARRYING  THE  PAPOOSE — INDIAN  EDUCATION — MOURNING  FOR  THE 
DEAD — DISFIGURATION  OF  THE  BODY— A  HIDEOUS  AND  BARBAROUS  CUSTOM- 
MOURNING  FOR  THE  SLAIN  AT  PHIL  KEARNEY — PUNISHING  DOMB  ANIMALS 
FOR  THE  DEAD — THE  BABY  ASLEEP. 

/^HILD-BIRTH  among  Indians  has  long  been  supposed  to 
^-'  be  attended  with  less  pain  and  danger  than  among  other 
races.  This  is  a  mistake,  for  human  nature  is  very  much  the 
same  the  world  over,  and  the  Indian  women,  in  bringing  forth 
their  children,  suffer  no  less  than  their  white  sisters.  The 
same  stoicism  which  enables  the  warrior  to  bear  without  com 
plaining  the  torture  of  his  enemies,  enables  the  Indian  mother 
to  endure  in  silence  her  labor-pains.  The  education  in  this 
direction  begins  the  moment  a  child  is  born.  First,  it  is  lashed 
to  a  board,  and  then  left  for  days  and  days,  being  suckled  with 
out  being  untied.  If  it  cries,  no  attention  is  paid  to  its  mur- 
murings  further  than  to  ascertain  that  it  does  not  suffer  from 
pain  or  hunger,  and  it  soon  learns  that  crying  does  no 
good. 

When  it  can  walk,  it  is  allowed  to  romp  and  indulge  in  the 
most  violent  exercise.     If  it  lives  to  grow  up,  it  is  taught  to 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


159 


bear  heavy  burdens,  walk  long  distances,  and  brave  summer's 
heat  and  winter's  cold.  In  this  way  all  the  muscles  are 
thoroughly  developed,  and  the  maiden  becomes  healthy  and 
strong. 

But  besides  a  healthy  frame  capable  of  bearing  suffering,  the 
Indian  woman  is  taught  that  to  complain  is  weak  and  unwo 
manly.  And  again,  menstruation  and  child-bearing  are  a  matter 
of  shame  and  not  to  be  published  to  the  world.  Hence  it  is 
that  the  Indian  woman,  finding  her  time  of  labor  come,  will 
often  leave  her  home  and  go  into  a  swamp  or  woods,  and 
there  remain  until  her  child  is  brought  forth,  and  she  able  to 
return  to  her  lodge.  With  no  eye  save  God's  to  pity  her,  and 
no  hand  save  her  own  to  help  her,  she  endures  the  most  terrible 
pain  to  which  humanity  is  subjected. 

The  papoose  in  camp  or 
on  the  march  is  always  car 
ried  on  a  board.  It  is  made 
of  sufficient  length  to  allow 
it  to  rest  its  head  and  feet, 
and  the  board  is  wide  enough 
to  wrap  the  child  snugly, 
and  have  the  strings  press 
on  the  chest  and  legs  instead 
of  the  sides.  The  bottom  of 
the  wrapping  is  stuffed  so  as 
to  make  a  firm  support  for 
the  feet,  and  prevent  the 
child  from  slipping  down 
and  becoming  wedged  in, 
which  would  misshape  its  |S 

feet  and    legs.  »  Baby  Asleep." 


160  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEI. 

The  strings  that  hold  it  are  fastened  to  the  board,  and 
are  tied  in  bow  knots  on  its  breast  and  belly.  Little  or  no 
compression  is  made  of  the  lower  limbs,  they  being  loose  in  a 
sort  of  sack  formed  by  the  wrapping.  The  mother  removes  the 
child  from  the  board  as  often  as  necessary  for  the  purposes  of 
nature,  and  no  oftener.  A  willow  is  bent  and  fastened  to  the  top 
of  the  board,  which  serves  as  a  handle  to  lift  it  by,  and  also  as 
a  frame  upon  which  to  hang  a  cloth  or  skin  to  protect  its  face 
from  the  weather  and  flies.  The  mother  carries  the  board  on 
her  back,  it  being  held  in  its  place  by  a  band  which  passes 
from  the  top  of  the  board  over  her  forehead. 

The  practice  of  disfiguration  prevails  extensively  among 
nearly  all  the  western  tribes.  One  day  an  Indian  boy  was 
thrown  from  his  pony  and  dashed  against  a  cottonwood-tree 
with  such  violence  that  he  died  next  morning  of  his  injuries. 
His  mother  and  sisters,  as  a  sign  of  their  grief,  cut  off  a  finger 
each  at  the  first  joint.  I  have  seen  the  Crows  gash  their  arms, 
legs,  bodies,  and  faces  when  their  friends  died.  The  women 
cut  several  gashes  on  the  forehead  near  the  roots  of  the 
hair,  and  the  blood  was  allowed  to  remain  until  it  dried  and 
wore  off. 

To  tie  up  a  wound  inflicted  as  a  sign  of  grief  is  consid 
ered  cowardly.  It  must  not  be  noticed  for  at  least  twenty- 
four  hours,  and  then  only  to  stop  the  blood.  Many  Indians 
bleed  almost  to  death  from  their  self-inflicted  wounds,  but  it 
is  considered  justifiable  to  take  any  position  to  staunch  the 
flow  of  blood,  and  Indians  not  unfrequently,  after  severing  a 
finger,  hold  the  hand  above  their  heads,  or  stand  all  night 
holding  to  a  pole  until  the  twenty-four  hours  are  up,  when 
the  wound  may  be  tied  up  in  rags. 

It  is   said   that   at    the   Fort   Phil    Kearney  massacre,   in 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  161 

1866,  over  three  hundred  Indians  were  killed,  and  that 
hundreds  of  fingers  were  cut  off  and  gashes  innumerable 
made  on  their  persons  by  the  friends  of  the  dead.  A  chief, 
two  years  after  the  massacre,  said,  in  council,  "The  Sioux, 
Arrapahoes,  and  Cheyennes  have  not  done  mourning  for  our 
braves  who  fell  at  Phil  Kearney." 

When  a  warrior  is  killed,  his  pony  is  gashed  in  the  sides 
and  on  the  legs  with  knives,  to  make  him  feel  sorry  for  the 
death  of  his  master. 

Travelers  have  often  noticed  the  gashes  in  the  ponies' 
sides  and  the  missing  fingers  of  Indians'  hands,  and  attrib 
uted  them  to  accident  or  war,  but  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten 
these  disfigurations  are  traceable  to  the  causes  mentioned 
above. 


162  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE   CHIEF, 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

INDIAN    DOGS — THEIR    ORIGIN — HABITS     OF     THE     DOG — HIS    COWARDICE    AND 

TREACHERY — WHAT    THE     INDIANS   DO    WITH    HIM NUMBER    OP   DOGS   TO  A 

FAMILY — RAISING  DOGS  FOR  FOOD — INDIAN  DOG  FEASTS — THE  AUTHOR  AT 
TENDS  ONE — DOG  SOUP — MANNERS  AT  AN  INDIAN  TABLE — BOILED  DOG — HOW 
THEY  ARE  COOKED — THE  PREJUDICE  AGAINST  DOG  MEAT — HOW  IT  TASTES — 
WHY  DO  N'T  WE  EAT  DOGS — WILD  ARTICHOKES  AND  CORN — THE  AUTHOR 

LEARNS     TO     LIKE     DOG AN     ENTERPRISE     CONSIDERED — THE     ENTERPRISE 

ABANDONED. 

"T~\OGS  and  Indians  are  inseparable  companions.  Where 
-•-^  you  find  an  Indian  you  are  pretty  sure  to  find  a  dog; 
and,  if  you  enter  a  village  you  will  see  hundreds  on  hundreds 
of  these  animals  running  about.  The  first  question  one  asks 
himself,  on  arriving  at  an  Indian  town  is,  "What  can  all  these 
dogs  be  kept  for?  but  a  short  residence  will  soon  convince 
him  that  there  are  none  too  many. 

The  Indian  dog  resembles  the  cayote,  or  prairie-wolf,  and 
his  bark  is  so  much  like  this  animal's,  it  is  often  difficult  to 
distinguish  the  two  apart.  There  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  wild 
dog  is  a  cross  between  the  domestic,  or  house  dog,  and  the  wolf. 

The  flesh  of  the  Indian  dog  is  very  fine,  and  resembles  the 
flesh  of  a  calf  or  antelope.  There  is  none  of  that  blackness, 
or  coarseness,  found  in  the  meat  of  the  domestic  dog.  Each 
Indian  family  keeps  from  six  to  sixteen  dogs,  and  they  are 


BELDEN  :    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  163 

very  useful  for  many  purposes  besides  eating.  They  can  be 
made  to  draw  water,  carry  or  haul  wood,  and  when  the  village 
moves,  they  are  put  into  little  shafts  and  made  to  drag  burdens 
of  camp  equipage.  They  are  excellent  watch  dogs,  and  nothing 
can  approach  the  camp  without  their  seeing,  or  hearing  it. 
They  are  very  cowardly,  but  always  give  the  alarm  by  bark 
ing  when  a  strange  animal  or  man  approaches.  They  are  fierce 
looking  brutes,  and  hundreds  of  them  will  run  toward  a 
stranger  as  though  about  to  tear  him  to  pieces,  but  a  club 
shied  among  them  will  set  them  scampering  in  all  directions. 
If  you  run  from  them  they  will  bite,  but  if  you  rush  at  them, 
scores  of  them  will  take  to  flight,  and  never  stop  until  safely 
ensconced  in  or  near  the  teepees  of  their  owners.  Their  terror, 
in  times  of  attack,  is  extreme,  and  they  are,  undoubtedly,  the 
most  cowardly  brutes  in  the  world.  They  are  ravenous,  and 
will  bite,  or  throw  down  a  child  to  get  a  bone,  or  piece  of 
meat  out  of  its  hand.  They  are  constantly  on  the  watch,  and 
if  you  lay  down  any  food  for  a  moment,  some  villainous  cur 
will  be  sure  to  snatch  it  and  run  away  with  it.  The  cayote 
is  not  more  sneaking  or  treacherous  in  his  disposition  than  a 
wild  dog.  What  Indian  dogs  live  on,  no  one  can  tell,  for 
the  Indians  take  no  pains  to  feed  them,  unless  it  be  a  favorite 
that  they  wish  to  eat,  and  then  he  is  tied  up  by  the  teepee  to 
fatten.  I  have  often  seen  them  out  hunting  on  the  bottoms, 
and  along  the  creeks  for  mice,  prairie-squirrels,  and  rabbits, 
which  they  devour  with  avidity. 

When  any  great  event  happens,  such  as  a  victory  or  suc 
cessful  hunt,  the  Indians  make  a  great  dog-feast,  and  old  and 
young  partake  of  the  savory  food.  Dog  meat  is  considered  a 
great  delicacy,  and  an  old  country  woman  in  the  East  is  not 
more  proud  and  careful  of  her  pullets,  than  is  an  Indian  of 

15 


164  BELBEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

his  young  dogs.     I  have  often  eaten  dog,  though  I  can't  say 
I  am  partial  to  that  kind  of  food  now. 

Soon  after  I  joined  the  Indians,  I  was  invited  to  two  dog- 
feasts,  and  feeling  that  it  would  not  be  courteous  to  refuse,  I 
went  to  one.  I  did  not  intend  to  eat  any  of  the  meat,  but 
changed  my  mind,  on  being  informed  by  a  friend,  that  it  would 
be  downright  ill-manners  not  to  partake,  at  least,  of  the  soup. 
The  dog  had  been  boiled  well,  and  was  fat,  which  did  not  help 
the  matter  or  make  the  dish  more  palatable.  I  had  a  foolish 
notion  that  I  could  eat  lean  dog,  but  dog-fat  was  positively 
repulsive  to  me.  When  I  arrived  at  the  feast,  I  was  given  a 
huge  wooden  bowl  that  would  hold  about  three  quarts,  and 
invited  to  come  up  and  have  it  filled.  I  went  to  the  great 
kettle  where  the  dog  had  been  boiled,  and  was  helped  to  the 
under-jaw  and  a  part  of  the  fore-quarter.  The  teeth  of  the 
jaw  looked  white  'and  wolfish,  and,  as  I  imagined,  gave  me  a 
grin  when  they  came  from  the  pot.  Corn  and  wild  artichokes 
had  been  boiled  with  the  dog,  and  I  was  given  two  huge  ladle- 
fulls  of  these  vegetables.  I  retired  to  my  place  in  the  circle, 
and  taking  up  my  spoon  of  buffalo-horn,  endeavored  to  keep 
up  appearances.  I  pretended  to  scrape  off  some  of  the  meat, 
but  as  it  stuck  tight  to  the  bone,  I  took  up  some  of  the  corn 
and  soup,  and  tasted  it.  To  my  surprise,  it  was  very  palatable, 
and  if  I  could  have  forgotten  it  was  dog  soup,  it  would  really 
have  been  good.  I  was  conscious  that  the  Indians  were  watch 
ing  me,  and  did  the  best  I  could  to  swallow  as  much  soup  as 
possible.  Unluckily,  as  I  dipped  down  deep  in  the  bowl  for 
corn,  I  brought  up  a  piece  of  meat  which  had  become  detached 
by  the  boiling.  I  wished  to  throw  it  back,  but  saw  two  Indians 
looking  directly  at  me,  and  I  boldly  raised  it  to  my  mouth.  As 
it  passed  between  my  lips,  I  felt  an  involuntary  shudder  seize 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  165 

me,  as  though  I  were  cold,  and  I  expected  to  be  instantly  nau 
seated,  but  as  I  masticated  it,  I  found  the  meat  sweet  and 
savory.  I  tried  some  more,  but  despite  my  resolution,  I  could 
only  eat  sparingly.  Candor  compels  me  to  say,  however,  that 
but  for  my  prejudice,  the  food  would  have  been  pleasant  and 
wholesome. 

After  this,  I  attended  many  dog-feasts,  and  soon  learned  to 
eat  as  heartily  as  any  one.  At  one  time,  I  had  got  so  far  along 
as  to  seriously  think  of  trading  for  some  dogs,  that  I  might 
have  a  supply  of  the  meat  on  hand  for  my  use  at  all  seasons, 
but  I  gave  it  up,  more  because  I  wished  to  appear  respectable  in 
my  own  eyes,  and  retain  some  semblance  of  civilization,  than 
because  I  had  any  longer  a  repugnance  to  dog — boiled,  roasted, 
stewed,  or  fried. 


166  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

THE  FALL  HUNT — A  NEW  EXPEDITION  PLANNED — THE  START — CAMPS  ON  THE 
MISSOURI — A  DELIGHTFUL  COUNTRY — PLEASURE  OF  CAMPING  OUT — A  HERD 
OF  BUFFALO THE  OLD  BULL — AN  ADVENTURE  WITH  A  BUFFALO THE  PUR 
SUIT — PURSUER  PURSUED — MY  PONY — TERRIBLE  FALL — PERILOUS  SITUA 
TION — GIVEN  UP  FOR  LOST — THE  DELIVERANCE — A  LESSON  TO  BUFFALO 
HUNTERS. 

HHHE  summer  was  drawing  to  a  close  and  the  autumn  days 
-•-  coming  on  when  the  annual  hunt  would  begin.  Before 
the  fall  hunt  I  determined  to  go  on  an  adventure  of  my  own, 
and,  on  communicating  my  intention  to  several  of  the  Santees, 
they  expressed  a  desire  to  accompany  me.  It  was  all  soon 
arranged  as  to  who  would  go,  and  we  made  preparations  for  a 
special  hunt  in  the  Big  Horn  country. 

First,  we  were  to  fall  down  the  river  a  distance  of  one  or 
two  hundred  miles,  and  having  drawn  as  near  the  mountains 
as  possible,  and  supplied  ourselves  with  buffalo  meat,  strike 
across  the  country. 

Our  trip  along  the  Missouri  was  delightful,  and  our  stock 
improved  every  day.  We  had  all  the  game  we  needed,  and  at 
night  camped  in  delightful  spots  by  clear,  running  streams. 
Fish,  deer,  and  antelope  abounded,  and  the  weather  was  mild 
and  refreshing.  Nothing  could  have  been  more  pleasant  than 
this  mode  of  traveling  on  the  broad,  wild  prairies  of  the 
West. 


BELDEN  I   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  167 

One  evening,  just  as  we  were  thinking  about  going  into 
camp  for  the  night,  I  spied  a  buffalo  bull  lying  on  a  little  hill 
side,  and  I  determined  at  once  to  capture  him.  La  Frombe, 
who  was  with  me,  and  one  of  the  Santee  warriors,  moved  out 
so  as  to  get  on  the  wind  side  of  him,  and  then  we  ran  for  the 
beast.  On  looking  to  the  west,  I  saw  at  a  short  distance  a 
whole  herd,  and,  leaving  La  Frombe  and  his  companion  to 
manage  the  bull,  made  for  the  herd.  I  was  soon  up  with  it, 
and,  singling  out  a  bull,  fired  a  ball  into  him.  The  herd 
made  off  as  fast  as  possible,  the  wounded  buffalo  following 
rapidly.  In  jumping  a  small  ravine  my  ponv  fell,  and  so 
badly  sprained  his  shoulder  he  was  unable  to  keep  up  with  the 
game.  While  I  was  chafing  at  my  disappointment,  and  urg 
ing  my  little  pony  to  do  his  utmost,  La  Frombe  and  the  Santee 
came  up  with  me,  having  finished  their  bull,  and  followed  to 
see  what  had  become  of  me.  As  soon  as  La  Frombe  noticed 
the  condition  of  my  horse,  he  cautioned  me  against  going  far 
ther,  and  said  it  would  be  unsafe  to  attack  a  bull  with  the 
pony  in  his  present  disabled  condition.  Just  then,  however, 
a  fine  young  bull  separating  from  the  herd,  I  called  to  La 
Frombe  to  head  him,  and  as  he  turned  give  the  buffalo  a  shot. 
La  Frombe  did  as  I  desired,  and  then  rejoined  the  chase  after 
the  herd.  Having  my  game  now  going  toward  the  camp,  I 
rode  along  leisurely  for  some  distance,  and  then  dashed  up  and 
gave  him  another  ball.  Instantly,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  the  beast 
wheeled,  lowered  his  head,  and  charged.  I  spurred  my  pony 
sharply,  and  barely  escaped  his  horns.  In  the  surprise  and  ex 
citement  of  the  moment,  I  had  dropped  my  gun  while  trying  to 
reload  it,  and  before  I  could  recover  it  the  buffalo  was  again  upon 
me.  I  plunged  the  rowels  into  the  pony's  flanks,  and  he  dashed 
forward,  but  the  bull  kept  close  in  his  rear.  I  now  saw  that 


168  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

the  animal  was  only  enraged  and  not  disabled  by  the  shots  I 
had  given  him,  while  my  pony  began  to  show  evident  signs  of 
exhaustion. 

On  we  went  over  the  prairie,  my  pursuer  with  his  head 
close  to  the  ground,  and  intent  on  plunging  his  horns  into 
the  pony's  flanks.  I  looked  back  as  we  were  ascending  a 
little  slope,  and  the  bull  was  within  eight  feet  of  me.  When 
I  reached  the  crest  of  the  slope,  I  saw  before  me  a  steep 
descent,  full  of  rocks  and  holes.  I  hesitated  to  risk  my  pony 
on  such  uneven  ground,  for  he  was  not  sure-footed,  but  the 
frightened  little  fellow  plunged  down  the  ridge,  and  I  let  him 
go.  Suddenly  I  felt  him  sinking  under  me,  and  the  next  mo 
ment  I  rolled  headlong  among  the  rocks.  I  looked  up,  and 
saw  the  buffalo,  with  lowered  head,  plunging  at  me,  and 
scarcely  twenty  feet  distant.  Every  instant  I  expected  to  feel 
his  sharp  horns  in  my  side  or  be  trampled  to  death  beneath 
his  feet,  and  closed  my  eyes.  While  I  lay  waiting  for  my 
death,  the  sharp  crack  of  a  rifle  rang  out  on  the  air,  quickly 
followed  by  another  shot.  A  sharp  pain  thrilled  me,  and  I 
felt  myself  flying  through  the  air.  The  confused  sound  of 
voices  near  by  caused  me  to  open  my  eyes,  and  there  sat  La 
Frombe  and  the  Santee  on  their  ponies. 

They  had  followed  me,  and  arrived  just  in  time  to  give  the 
bull  two  fatal  shots  as  he  was  about  to  gore  me  to  death.  I 
was  so  sore  from  the  effects  of  my  wounds  that  I  could  not 
rise,  but  they  dismounted  and  lifted  me  up,  when  I  saw  the  bull 
lying  dead  scarcely  a  dozen  feet  distant.  An  examination 
showed  that  the  beast  had  struck  me  with  the  side  of  his  horn 
on  the  shoulder,  and  although  he  had  sent  me  spinning  like  a 
top,  the  horn  had  not  entered  the  flesh. 

Tn  a  little  while  I  was  able  to  walk,  and,  with  the  assist- 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

aiice  of  La  Frombe,  to  mount  my  pony,  who  had  not  been 
hurt  by  his  fall,  and  was  quietly  grazing  near  by.  I  rode 
slowly  back  to  camp,  fully  resolved  to  be  more  careful  in 
future  when  I  hunted  buffalo.  It  was  many  a  day  before  I 
recovered  from  the  effects  of  my  bruises,  and  never,  until  the 
day  of  my  death,  shall  I  ever  forget  how  I  felt  when  I  imag 
ined  that  buffalo's  horns  driving  through  me. 


170  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


ft 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 


OFF  FOB  THE  MOUNTAINS  —  HUNTING  ELK  AND  ANTELOPE  —  A  BEAR  HUNT  —  THE 
THREE  GRIZZLIES  —  A  RACE—  LOOKING  FOR  THE  GAME  —  MORE  GAME  FOUND 
THAN  WANTED  —  TAKING  UP  A  POSITION  —  SKIRMISHING  -  THE  ENEMY  WON'T 
SCARE  —  THE  BATTLE  -  A  SHE-BEAR  AND  TWO  CUBS  -  INTELLIGENCE  OF  THE 
BEAR  —  A  DEAD  MONSTER  —  SKINNING  A  BEAR  —  THE  RETURN  TO  CAMP  —  AN 
ALARM  —  INDIANS  —  WHAT  FRIGHTENED*  THEM  —  SUPPER  IN  CAMP  —  A  NIGHT 
MARCH  —  FAR  UP  IN  THE  MOUNTAINS  -  OUR  NEW  CAMP. 


now  na^  a^  the  buffalo  meat  we  needed,  and  at  once 
set  out  for  the  mountains.  After  reaching  them,  we 
skirted  along  their  base,  looking  for  deer  and  elk,  and  suc 
ceeded  in  capturing  a  number  of  fine  animals. 

A  pleasant  temporary  camp  was  located,  where  we  rested  for 
a  day  or  two,  and  then  set  out  for  any  adventure  that  might 
come  in  our  way.  We  had  left  the  base  of  the  mountain  one 
morning,  soon  after  daylight,  and  were  moving  across  the 
plain,  when  we  noticed  three  objects  going  in  the  direction  of 
a  caflon  a  mile  in  advance.  Whipping  up  our  ponies  we 
were  not  long  in  coming  upon  three  huge  grizzly  bears.  In 
a  moment  all  was  excitement,  and  we  dashed  forward,  endeav 
oring  to  head  them  off  from  the  cafion,  where  we  surmised 
they  had  a  den.  We  knew  that  to  attack  them  on  the  open 
plain  would  lessen  the  danger  of  the  conflict  greatly,  so  we 
rode  hard,  but  despite  our  efforts  they  reached  and  entered  the 
cafion  ahead  of  us. 


,7S§ 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  171 

My  horse  had  outstripped  those  of  my  companions,  and 
seeing  the  bears  about  to  escape,  I  spurred  on  until  I  passed 
the  grizzlies,  and  then  turning,  fired  a  shot,  hoping  to  turn 
them  back  or  bring  them  to  a  halt.  They,  however,  came 
steadily  on  toward  me,  and  I  rode  to  the  side  of  the  canon 
and  attempted  to  climb  its  steep  bank.  I  succeeded,  and  for  a 
time  lost  sight  of  the  animals.  I  waited  several  moments,  ex 
pecting  to  hear  the  guns  of  my  friends  in  the  conflict  below, 
when  I  would  ride  down  and  join  them.  All  remained  quiet, 
however,  and,  becoming  impatient,  I  dismounted,  and  leaving 
my  horse,  walked  to  the  edge  of  the  canon.  I  could  see 
nothing  of  the  bears  or  horsemen,  and  ventured  down  the 
bank.  I  was  straining  my  eyes  in  all  directions,  when  I  heard 
a  noise  above  me,  and,  looking  up,  saw  on  the  top  of  the  ridge, 
not  more  than  fifty  yards  from  me,  the  three  bears.  They  had 
followed  me  up  the  bank,  and  skirted  along  the  crest,  until 
they  came  near  my  horse.  I  heard  the  pony  snorting  and 
trying  to  break  his  lariat  rope,  and  a  moment  afterward  he 
was  dashing  along  the  ridge,  dragging  the  rope  behind  him. 
I  had  hoped  the  bears  would  follow  him,  but,  instead  of  doing 
so,  they  sat  down  to  watch  me.  The  hill-side  was  thickly 
strewn  with  shaggy  little  pines,  blown  down  by  the  wind, 
and  among  these  I  took  up  my  position.  The  bears,  seeing 
me  apparently  moving  off,  followed,  and  one  came  within 
forty  feet  before  he  saw  me.  Hoping  to  frighten  off  the 
brute  as  well  as  attract  my  friends,  I  fired  my  revolver  in  the 
air.  The  bear  gave  an  angry  growl,  and  came  still  nearer. 
Glancing  up  the  canon,  and  seeing  nothing  of  my  friends,  T 
concluded  to  fire,  and  raising  the  hammer  of  my  Henry  rifle, 
I  took  a  steady  aim  at  the  beast's  heart,  and  pulled  the  trigger. 
With  a  roar  that  made  the  hill  shake,  she  fell  to  the  ground 


172  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

and  rolled  over.  In  a  moment  more  she  got  up  and,  shaking 
herself,  fixed  her  blood-red  eyes  upon  me.  My  heart  sank  in 
my  breast,  for  I  saw  I  had  missed  the  vitals  of  the  animal,  and 
only  enraged  by  wounding  her.  The  other  two  bears,  which 
I  now  saw  were  large  cubs,  lay  crouching  near  their  mother, 
and  apparently  watching  the  battle.  Seeing  the  old  bear 
about  to  rush  upon  me,  I  hastily  threw  the  exploded  shell  out 
of  my  Henry,  and  raising  the  hammer  sent  a  ball  at  her,  but, 
owing  to  her  sudden  change  of  position,  missed  her,  and  hit 
one  of  the  cubs  that  was  just  behind  her.  The  cub  bellowed 
lustily,  and  the  dam  ran  to  him.  This  was  most  lucky  for  me, 
and  I  lost  no  time  in  putting  three  more  shots  into  the  old 
bear.  Once  more  she  came  bounding  toward  me,  and  I 
plumped  a  shot  into  the  cub  that  made  him  yell  with  agony. 
The  old  beast  was  within  a  few  feet  of  me,  when,  unable  to 
withstand  the  piteous  cries  of  her  cub,  she  turned  and  went  to 
him.  I  now  pumped  the  shot  into  her  as  fast  as  possible,  but 
presently  she  came  on  again,  when  again  I  hit-  her  cub,  and 
sent  her  back  to  lick  his  wounds.  She  had  received  thirteen 
balls,  when  she  made  off,  followed  by  the  cubs,  one  of  which 
was  so  lame  he  could  hardly  walk. 

I  was  debating  in  my  own  mind,  whether  I  should  pursue 
and  finish  the  bears  or  let  well  enough  alone,  when  I  preceived 
my  companions  coming  riding  down  the  caflon,  and  directly 
in  front  of  the  grizzlies.  I  hallooed  to  them  to  head  off  the 
bears  and  attack  them  in  front,  while  I  followed  up  my  attack 
in  the  rear.  I  ran  as  fast  as  I  could,  and  coming  up  to  the  hind 
most  cub,  laid  him  out  at  one  shot.  I  next  shot  the  other 
cub,  and  fired  twice  at  the  old  bear,  but  she  was  getting  too 
far  ahead  for  my  balls  to  be  effective.  La  Frombe  and  the 
Santee  headed  her,  when  she  came  running  back  to  her  dead 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  173 

cub,  sat  down,  and  howled  most  piteously.  Then  she  took  her 
paw  and  rolling  him  over  and  over,  shook  him  as  if  to  wake 
him.  Smelling  his  nose,  she  seemed  to  understand  he  was 
dead,  and  cried  as  if  her  heart  would  break.  Suddenly  she 
saw  me,  and,  standing  on  her  hind  feet,  looked  at  her  perse 
cutor.  She  made  no  attempt  to  come  at  me,  but  seemed  to  be 
waiting  foi  her  death.  Never  did  I  see  so  magnificent  a  beast, 
as  she  stood  there,  with  ears  flattened  against  her  head,  her 
eyes  blazing  like  coals  of  fire,  her  neck  stretched  out,  and  her 
mouth  wide  open,  disclosing  four  rows  of  immense  white  teeth. 
I  did  not  long  keep  her  in  suspense,  but  fired  at  her  heart,  and 
she  fell  down  and  rolled  over,  catching  her  cub,  and  seemingly 
trying  to  embrace  it  as  she  died. 

This  bear  would  certainly  have  weighed  over  one  thousand 
pounds,  and  after  my  severe  contest  with  her  I  had  a  desire 
to  possess  her  skin.  La  Frombe  helped  me  skin  her,  while 
the  Santee  went  to  hunt  up  my  pony.  We  left  on  the  claws 
and  skin  of  the  head.  Just  as  we  had  finished  our  job,  the 
Santee  came  back  with  my  pony,  and  taking  the  entrails  out  of 
the  smallest  cub,  we  lifted  him  upon  La  Frombe's  horse,  and 
all  set  out  to  return  to  our  camp. 

"We  had  gone  but  a  mile  or  two,  when  we  saw  several  horse 
men  riding  furiously  across  the  plain,  apparently  with  the 
design  of  heading  us  off.  It  needed  no  second  look  to  con 
vince  us  they  were  hostile  Crows,  and,  dropping  the  bear,  we 
broke  for  the  hills.  It  was  a  ride  for  life,  as  there  were  fully 
fifteen  Indians  in  the  other  party,  and  we  knew  if  we  were 
caught  they  would  burn  us  at  the  stake,  for  they  were  at  war 
with  the  Sioux,  and,  what  was  worse  for  us,  we  were  hunting 
game  on  their  hunting-grounds. 

Suddenly   the   Crows  halted,  and;  apparently  without  any 
11 


174  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE   CHIEF. 

cause,  put  back  as  fast  as  they  had  come.  On  ascending  a 
little  knoll,  we  saw  the  cause  of  their  alarm,  for  there  stood 
our  camp,  half  hid  away  among  the  trees.  The  Crows  had  seen 
the  camp,  and  thinking  our  party  was  strong,  and  that  we 
were  decoying  them  to  the  camp,  they  began  their  hasty 
retreat. 

In  a  few  moments  not  a  Crow  was  to  be  seen,  and  we  rode 
quietly  into  camp,  laughing  heartily  at  the  needless  alarm  of 
our  enemies.  After  a  hearty  supper,  we  packed  up,  and, 
fearing  the  Crows  would  return  and  discover  our  weakness, 
when  we  should  all  be  killed,  we  determined  to  move  off  at 
once.  All  night  long  we  rode  briskly  forward,  and  when  the 
sun  rose,  gilding  the  mountain  peak  with  silver  and  gold,  we 
were  nearly  fifty  miles  distant  from  where  our  camp  had  been. 

We  breakfasted  on  fresh  antelope,  and  rested  until  noon, 
when  we  again  set  forward,  and  continued  our  journey  for  twc 
days.  Being  now  far  in  the  mountains,  we  felt  safe,  and 
pitched  our  camp,  intending  to  hunt  for  a  season. 


BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  175 


CHAPTER    XXIY. 

HUNTING  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SHEEP — AN   EARLY  START — MEETING   THE   SUN   ON 
THE  MOUNTAIN  TOPS — THE  BIG  HORNS  IN  SIGHT — LA  FROMBE  KILLS  A  SHEEP 

MY   CHAGRIN   AT   A   BAD    SHOT — FOLLOWING  THE   BIG  HORNS — A    TOILSOME 

JOURNEY — THE  SHEEP  IN  SIGHT  AGAIN — KILLING  A  RAM — THEIR  ASTONISH 
ING  STRENGTH — A  MEAL  ON  THE  MOUNTAIN — THE  RETURN — HOME  ONCE 
MORE. 

WE  had  been  at  our  new  camp  several  days,  and  taken 
all  the  game  we  wanted  when,  one  morning,  I  deter 
mined  to  climb  the  mountain  peaks  and  have  a  hunt  after  the 
famous  mountain  sheep.  My  companions  liked  the  idea  of  a 
dash  at  the  "  hard  heads,"  and  we  all  three  set  out  together. 
The  sun  met  us  as  we  toiled  up  the  steeps,  and  it  was  scarcely 
half  an  hour  high,  when  La  Frombe,  who  was  in  advance, 
halted,  and  pointing  to  a  cliff  half  a  mile  distant,  said,  "There 
they  are."  We  looked  in  the  direction  indicated,  and  saw  a 
group  of  four  sheep  walking  along  the  edge  of  the  precipice. 
They  had  not  yet  discovered  us,  and  we  stood  still  until  they 
passed  out  of  sight  behind  some  projecting  rocks,  and  then  ran 
as  fast  as  we  could  along  the  mountain  side  until  we  were 
directly  under  where  we  had  seen  our  game.  Carefully  ascend 
ing  from  crag  to  crag,  we  were  not  long  in  coming  upon  their 
fresh  tracks,  and  now  we  crept  along,  looking  carefully  ahead  at 
every  turn.  Presently,  La  Frornbe  pointed  to  the  right,  and 
there,  standing  on  a  rock,  scarcely  two  hundred  yards  from  us, 


176  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

were  three  large  sheep.  We  each  selected  a  sheep — La  Frombe 
taking  the  one  on  the  left,  the  Santee  the  one  in  the  middle,  and 
I  the  farthest  on  the  right.  At  a  signal  from  La  Frombe,  we 
fired  together,  and  when  the  smoke  cleared  away  saw  one  sheep 
lying  on  the  rock.  I  ran  as  fast  as  I  could  up  the  rocks,  and 
arrived  in  time  to  see  the  other  two  big  horns  going  around  the 
bluff  a  quarter  of  a  mile  off.  La  Frombe  had  killed  his  game, 
but  the  Santee  and  I  had  missed  our  mark.  I,  however,  noticed 
blood  on  the  stones,  and  knowing  that  one  of  the  other  two  was 
wounded,  determined  to  follow  them.  Leaving  La  Frombe  and 
the  Santee  to  skin  and  dress  the  dead  animal,  I  climbed  from 
ravine  to  ravine,  and  rock  to  rock,  for  nearly  an  hour,  and  had 
began  to  despair  of  seeing  my  game  again,  when  I  unex 
pectedly  came  upon  some  blood  and  tracks.  I  saw  where  the 
sheep  had  laid  but  a  few  moments  before,  and  as  there  was 
some  soft  soil  at  this  point  so  I  could  follow  the  tracks,  I 
crawled  carefully  along.  I  paused  often  to  watch  and  listen, 
but  could  see  nothing,  and  all  was  silent,  as  only  the  vast 
solitudes  of  a  mountain  can  be.  I  had  began  to  descend  a 
little,  with  a  view  of  getting  among  some  scrubby  pines  near 
by,  in  order  the  better  to  shield  myself  from  observation,  and 
just  as  I  reached  them,  I  saw  a  stately  ram  walking  slowly 
along  a  ledge  of  rocks,  closely  followed  by  a  small  ewe.  I 
was  as  yet  too  far  away  to  shoot  with  precision,  and  as  they 
were  moving  slowly,  and  had  not  seen  me,  I  stood  still  until 
they  turned  the  rock.  They  were  moving  parallel  with  me,  and 
I  now  hastened,  under  cover  of  the  pines,  to  get  ahead  of 
them,  if  possible.  After  getting  one  or  two  falls,  and  nearly 
breaking  my  gun  and  neck  over  the  stones,  I  perceived  the 
sheep  nearly  above  me,  and  not  over  two  hundred  yards  dis 
tant.  I  crawled  to  the  edge  of  the  rocks,  and  selecting  an 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  ^177 

opeu  spot,  where  I  knew  the  sheep  would  pass,  rested  my  gun. 
In  a  moment  they  appeared,  and  when  the  ram  came  opposite 
the  end  of  my  rifle,  I  fired.  The  old  fellow  dropped,  rolled 
over,  turned  upon  his  horns,  and  fell  over  forty  feet,  lighting 
on  his  head.*  He  was  desperately  wounded,  but  still  able  to 
rise.  As  he  steadied  himself  for  another  jump,  I  put  a  third 
ball  into  him,  and  he  lay  down  on  the  rocks.  I  scrambled  up 
to  him,  and  when  he  saw  me,  he  made  desperate  efforts  to  get 
upon  his  feet.  He  lay  upon  his  side,  his  great  red  eyes  roll 
ing  fiercely.  When  I  went  near  him  he  bleated  piteously,  and 
struck  with  his  forefeet,  at  the  same  time  tossing  his  great 
horns  savagely  about.  I  tried  for  some  time  to  get  hold  of 
him,  not  wishing  to  shoot  him  again,  as  I  had  but  two  charges 
left  in  my  gun,  and  I  had  left  my  ammunition-belt  behind,  in 
order  to  climb  the  better.  Every  time  I  approached,  he  struck 
at  me,  until  finally,  losing  my  patience,  I  pounced  upon  him 
from  behind,  and  seizing  hold  of  one  of  his  horns,  attempted 
to  draw  my  hunting-knife  across  his  throat.  Throwing  back 
his  head  with  a  strength  that  surprised  me,  he  struck  me  with 
his  horn  on  the  knee  and  almost  broke  my  leg.  It  was  only 
after  a  severe  struggle  that  I  was  able  to  drive  my  knife  into 
his  neck  and  finish  him. 

"When  I  had  killed  the  ram,  I  looked  up,  and  there  stood  the 

*  Hunting  the  Rocky  Mountain  sheep  is  the  only  sport  that  approximates 
to  any  thing  like  the  famous  Chamois  hunting  of  olden  times.  The  flesh 
of  these  sheep  is  very  good,  but  they  are  exceedingly  difficult  to  kill. 
When  pursued  by  the  hunter,  or  wounded,  they  will  frequently  throw 
themselves  over  precipices  fifty  feet  high,  and  light  on  their  horns,  appa 
rently  without  hurting  themselves  in  the  least. 

Mr.  Belden  gives,  in  the  above  sketch,  a  perfectly  natural  and  correct 
account  of  a  Rocky  Mountain  sheep  hunt. 

16 


178  BELDEX:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

doe,  hardly  fifty  yards  distant.  She  had  been  looking  at  the 
death  of  her  mate,  and  now,  even  as  I  looked  at  her,  bounded 
nimbly  away  over  the  rocks.  I  fired  a  shot  after  her,  but  it 
did  not  hit  her,  and  I  sat  down  perfectly  satisfied  with  my 
rant. 

I  was  not  long  in  signalling  my  companions,  and  presently 
I  heard  the  long  "  talla-ho ! "  of  La  Frombe,  who  was  coming 
up  the  steeps  below  me. 

I  had  my  sheep  skinned  and  dressed  by  the  time  they  came 
up,  and  the  pines  affording  a  favorable  place,  we  cut  off  some 
of  the  choice  bits,  roasted  them  on  the  coals,  and  dined. 

We  were  all  three  very  tired,  and  having  had  enough  of 
sheep-hunting  for  one  day,  we  rested  for  a  couple  of  hours,  and 
then,  packing  our  meat  on  our  backs,  began  the  descent.  It 
was  quite  late  when  we  reached  our  camp,  and  as  we  were  weary 
and  bruised  by  many  a  fall,  received  during  the  day,  we  soon 
went  to  bed. 


BELDEN:   THE  WHITE   CHIEF. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

OLD  BUFFALO  BULLS — THE  MONARCHS  OF  THE  PRAIRIES — A  CHASE  AFTER  ONE — 
HIS  RAGE  AND  EFFORTS  TO  CAPTURE  ME — A  TRICK — HOW  HE  HID  FROM  ME— 

TERRIBLE  COLLISION — THE  RESULT — WHAT  I  SAW — DANGEROUS  SITUATION 

DEATH    OF  THE  BUFFALO MY  CONDITION — POOR  LITTLE  PONT — THE  RETURN 

TO  CAMP — ALARM   OF   MY    FRIENDS — ALD    RIGHT  ONCE  MORE. 

WE  were  now  out  of  the  buffalo  range,  but  occasionally  we 
met  an  old  bull,  who,  having  been  driven  away  from 
the  herd  by  the  sharp  horns  of  his  younger  brethren,  had 
wandered  far  up  into  the  mountains,  to  graze  and  live  out  the 
remnant  pf  his  days  in  peace. 

These  old  fellows,  disturbed  by  our  presence,  would,  on  being 
approached,  throw  up  their  heads  defiantly,  and  then  trot  off 
to  other  pastures. 

One  day  a  desire  seized  me  to  have  a  battle  with  one  of 
these  monarchs  of  the  prairies.  Saddling  my  pony,  I  rode  out, 
and  was  not  long  in  coming  upon  an  old  soldier  who  was  graz 
ing  in  a  little  grassy  valley.  He  was  monarch  of  all  he  sur 
veyed,  but  nevertheless  thought  it  proper  to  acknowledge  my 
superiority  by  shaking  his  head,  as  a  sort  of  negative  admis 
sion,  and  then  gallop  off  toward  the  hills. 

My  little  pony  soon  overtook  him,  however,  and  I  gave  the 
old  fellow  a  shot  that  made  him  grunt,  and  set  every  nerve  in 
him  quivering.  I  did  not  desire  to  kill  him  at  once,  but  exer 
cise  the  agility  of  my  pony  and  the  skill  of  myself.  Seeing 


180  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

him  making  for  a  ravine,  I  spurred  by,  and,  swinging  my 
buffalo  robe  before  his  face,  sought  to  turn  him.  He  ran  back 
at  once,  and  when  he  was  on  the  open  prairie,  I  gave  him  a 
shot  through  the  hams.  This  made  him  switch  his  tail  and 
cut  dirt  for  a  mile,  but  he  presently  made  signs  of  battle. 
This  was  precisely  what  I  wanted,  and  I  gave  haste  to  shoot 
him  again,  this  time  in  the  neck.  He  now  turned  and  charged 
upon  me,  but  my  little  pony  wheeled  and  was  off  like  the 
wind.  Away  we  went  over  the  prairie,  the  pursuer  and  pur 
sued.  I  zigzagged  the  pony,  and,  as  the  old  buffalo  could  not 
turn  on  less  than  an  acre  of  ground,  he  had  to  run  more  than 
twice  as  far  as  the  little  horse.  It  would  take  him  some  time 
to  bring  himself  to  bear  .upon  us,  but,  having  got  himself  in 
range,  he  would  come  on  like  a  steam  engine,  sure  that  he  had 
us,  but  only  to  be  zigzagged  out  of  line  again,  and  find  he  was 
charging  the  air.  In  a  little  time  he  gave  it  up  and  started  for 
the  ravine,  near  which  we  had  been  maneuvering.  He  had  a 
good  start  before  I  perceived  what  his  object  was,  and,  although 
I  rode  hard,  I  could  not  head  him  in  time  to  prevent  him 
from  entering  it.  I  dashed  down  into  the  cafion,  and,  not 
seeing  my  game,  was  about  to  pull  rein,  when  my  horse,  in 
turning  the  sharp  butt  of  a  little  bluff  that  run  into  the  ravine, 
came  suddenly  upon  the  buffalo  lying  down,  and,  before  I 
could  check  his  speed,  stumbled  and  fell  headlong  over  him. 
I  rolled  over  and  over  on  the  ground,  and  was  so  stunned  and 
bruised,  that  for  several  minutes  I  could  neither  rise  to  my 
feet  nor  collect  my  senses.  An  indistinct  idea  of  danger 
thrilled  me,  and  still,  half  blinded  and  choked  with  dust,  I 
got  upon  my  knees,  and,  feeling  for  my  revolver,  which  was  in 
the  scabbard  strapped  to  my  waist,  I  drew  and  fired  it  twice 
at  a  black-looking  mass  before  me.  Whether  it  was  the  smell 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  181 

of  the  powder  or  the  noise  of  the  explosion  that  brought  back 
my  recollection  and  sense,  I  can  not  tell,  but  in  a  moment  I 
saw  the  buffalo  close  by  me,  and  attempting  to  rise  to  his  feet. 
I  aimed  at  his  side  and  fired  twice,  and,  to  my  inexpressible 
relief,  saw  the  great  brute  roll  over  and  die.  I  was  still  so 
dizzy  I  closed  my  eyes  and  laid  down  on  the  ground.  Pres 
ently,  by  remaining  still,  I  felt  better,  and,  rising,  I  examined 
to  see  if  my  bones  were  broken.  I  was  terribly  bruised,  but 
still  whole,  and  I  felt  so  delighted  at  this  discovery,  I  walked, 
or  rather  hobbled,  to  the  buffalo,  and,  cutting  his  throat  with 
my  great  butcher-knife,  sat  down  upon  the  carcass.  It  was 
fully  half  an  hour  before  I  could  realize  what  had  occurred, 
and  then  I  found  my  poor  little  horse  standing  in  a  pocket 
of  the  can" on,  and  so  lame  he  could  hardly  walk.  My  gun 
was  broken  and  my  hat  lying  near  it,  torn  almost  in  two. 

An  examination  proved  that  the  buffalo  had  run  into  the 
cafion,  and,  thinking  himself  free  from  his  tormentor,  had  laid 
down  behind  the  butt,  when  a  moment  afterward  I  came  along 
at  full  speed,  and  both  rider  and  horse  tumbled  over  him. 
The  collision  had  rolled  the  buffalo  over,  and  the  blow  neces 
sary  to  do  this  had  nearly  dislocated  my  horse's  shoulder.  I 
made  haste  to  mount  and  work  my  way  back  to  camp,  where 
I  arrived  in  sad  plight,  long  after  dark.  My  companions  had 
become  so  uneasy  about  me  that  they  were  just  starting  out  to 
hunt  me  up,  when  I  came  in  and  related  to  them  my  adven 
ture  and  miraculous  escape. 


182  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

LEGEND  OP  CRAZY  WOMAN — NARRATIVE  OF  THE  OLD  INDIAN — INTRODUCTION 
OF  RUM  AMONG  THE  CROWS — THE  WHITE  TRADER — SINGULAR  CONDUCT  OF 
THE  CHIEF — THE  CRAZY  WARRIOR — CROW  COUNCIL— THE  BLACK-WATER — 
SPEECH  OF  THE  YOUNG  WARRIOR — PERIL  OF  THE  TRADER — THE  CONFESSION 
— AN  INDIAN  BATTLE — DEATH  OF  THE  TREMBLING  HAND — MURDER  OF  THE 
TRADER— THE  WHITE  SQUAW — HER  ESCAPE — THE  CRAZY  WOMAN — HOW  THE 
STREAM  TOOK  ITS  NAME. 

FRESH  pony-tracks,  seen  in  a  gorge,  warned  us  that  the 
hostile  Crows  were  about,  and  hastily  packing  up,  we  de 
camped  to  a  more  safe  locality. 

After  many  days  travel,  we  came  in  sight  of  a  broad,  rolling 
stream,  shaded  by  cottonwood,  and  pitched  our  camp  on  its 
bank.  The  valley  along  the  river  was  wide  and  fertile,  and 
flocks  of  prairie  hens  and  ducks  rose  from  the  long  grass  and 
flew  away  in  all  directions.  Deer,  antelope,  and  elk,  bounded 
over  the  hills,  and  far  in  the  distance  could  be  seen  a  drove 
of  wild  horses.  I  could  not  help  wondering  how  soon  this 
wild  scene  would  be  changed,  and  the  smoke  of  the  white  man's 
cabin  ascend  all  along  the  rich  valley.  Already,  I  saw,  in 
imagination,  corn  growing  on  the  slopes,  farm-houses  nestling 
among  the  trees,  a  village  in  the  great  bend  of  the  stream,  and 
I  thought  I  could  hear  the  tinkling  of  cow-bells,  the  laugh  of 
children,  and  the  solemn  tolling  of  church-bells. 

La  Frombe  said  the  stream  was  called  Crazy  Woman,  and 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  183 

the  valley  had  long  been  known  to  the  Crows  as  Crazy  Woman's 
Valley.  I  asked  him  how  it  could  have  obtained  such  a  singu 
lar  name,  and  he  related  the  following  story : 

Many  years  ago,  I  visited  this  spot  with  a  band  of  Crows, 
and  one  evening  a  venerable  Indian  told  us  this  legend  of 
Crazy  Woman :  Years  ago,  when  my  father  was  a  little  boy, 
there  came  among  us  a  man  who  was  half  white.  He  said  he 
wished  to  trade  with  our  people  for  bufiklo-robes,  beaver,  elk, 
and  deer  skins,  and  that  he  would  give  us  much  paint,  and 
many  blankets  and  pieces  of  cloth  in  exchange  for  furs.  We 
liked  him,  and  believed  him  very  good,  for  he  was  rich,  hav 
ing  many  thousands  of  beads  and  hundreds  of  yards  of  ribbons. 
Our  village  was  then  built  on  the  river,  about  twenty  miles 
above  where  we  now  are,  and  game  was  very  plentiful.  This 
river  did  not  at  that  time  have  the  name  of  Crazy  Woman,  but 
was  called  "  Big  Beard,"  because  a  curious  grass  grows  along  its 
banks  that  has  a  big  beard.  What  I  am  about  to  relate  caused 
the  name  of  the  river  to  be  changed. 

The  trader  built  a  lodge  of  wood  and  stones,  and  near  it  a 
great,  strong  house,  in  which  he  kept  all  his  immense  wealth.  It 
was  not  long  until  he  had  bought  all  the  robes  and  furs  for  sale 
in  the  village,  and  then  he  packed  them  on  ponies,  and  bidding 
us  good-bye,  said  he  was  going  far  to  the  East,  where  the  pale 
face  lives,  but  that  he  would  soon  come  back,  bring  us  many 
presents,  and  plenty  of  blankets,  beads,  and  ribbons,  which  he 
would  exchange  as  before  for  robes  and  furs.  We  were  sorry 
to  see  him  go,  but,  as  he  promised  to  return  in  a  few  moons, 
we  were  much  consoled.  It  was  not  long  until  our  spies  re 
ported  sometning  they  could  not  understand  coming  into  our 
country,  and  the  whole  village  was  in  a  great  state  of  alarm. 
Somo  of  the  boldest  ventured  out,  and  returned  with  the  joyful 


184  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

intelligence,  that  the  strange  objects  our  young  men  had  seen, 
was  the  trader  and  his  people.  All  the  village  ran  to  meet  him, 
and  the  sight  was  strange  enough  indeed.  The  Crows  had  in 
those  days  never  seen  a  wagon-horse  or  ox,  and  the  trader  had 
brought  all  these  things.  The  wagons  they  called  teepees  on 
rollers ;  the  horses  were  giants,  beside  the  little  ponies,  and  the 
oxen,  all  believed  were  tame  buffaloes.  There,  also,  was  a  squaw 
who  was  perfectly  white,  and  who  could  not  understand  any 
thing  that  was  said  to  her.  She  wore  dresses  down  to  her  feet, 
of  which  she  seemed  to  be  ashamed,  and  our  women  said  she 
tied  cords  tightly  about  her  waist,  so  as  to  make  it  small.  She 
had  very  long  hair,  and  did  not  plait,  but  rolled  it,  and,  in 
stead  of  letting  it  hang  down,  wrapped  it  tightly  about  her 
head. 

It  was  not  long  until  the  trader  had  all  his  wagons  un 
loaded,  and  his  store  open.  He  had  brought  all  the  women 
beads  and  ribbons,  and  the  men  brass  rings.  Besides  what  he 
sold,  he  made  many  presents ;  so  every  body  loved  him,  for  no 
one  had  ever  before  seen  so  rich  and  generous  a  man. 

One  day,  he  told  the  Big  Chief  to  come  into  the  back  part 
of  the  store  and  he  would  show  him  something  wonderful. 
The  chief  went,  wondering  what  it  could  be,  and  when  they 
were  alone,  the  trader  drew  out  a  very  little  barrel,  and  taking 
a  wooden  cup,  poured  out  some  black-looking  water,  which  he 
told  the  chief  to  drink.  The  chief  did  as  desired,  and  imme 
diately  felt  so  jolly  he  asked  for  more.  The  trader  promised, 
if  he  would  never  tell  any  one  where  he  got  the  black  water, 
he  would  give  him  all  he  wanted.  The  chief  promised,  and 
the  trader  gave  him  another  cupful.  Now  the  chief  danced 
and  sang,  and  went  to  his  lodge,  where  he  fell  down  in  a  deep 
sleep,  and  no  one  could  wake  him.  He  slept  so  long,  the  war- 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  187 

riors  gathered  about  the  lodge  wondering  what  could  ail  him, 
and  they  were  about  to  go  to  the  trader  and  demand  to  know 
what  kind  of  medicine  he  had  given  the  chief  to  make  him 
behave  so  strangely,  when  the  chief  woke  up  and  ordered 
them  all  to  their  lodges,  and  to  ask  no  questions. 

Next  day  the  chief  went  to  the  trader,  and  said  he  had  had 
great  dreams ;  that  he  thought  he  had  slain  many  of  his  ene 
mies,  and  that  the  black  medicine  must  be  very  good  to  make 
him  have  such  pleasant  visions.  He  begged  the  trader  to  give 
him  some  more,  and  he  did  so.  Thus  the  chief  did  every  day, 
and  all  the  village  wondered,  for  they  believed  the  trader  had 
bewitched  him.  In  former  times  the  chief  had  been  a  quiet 
and  very  dignified  man,  but  now  he  sang,  danced  in  the 
streets,  and  publicly  hugged  the  women,  so  every  one  thought 
him  crazy.  The  Crows  disliked  the  conduct  of  the  chief  very 
much,  and  began  to  grumble  against  the  trader,  for  they 
thought  he  was  to  blame  for  the  great  change  that  had  come 
over  their  chief.  Some  said  he  was  bewitched,  others  that  the 
trader  had  an  evil  spirit  in  one  of  his  boxes,  and  thus  they 
talked,  some  believing  one  thing  and  some  another,  but  all 
blaming  him.  One  of  the  young  warriors  called  a  secret  coun 
cil,  and  the  matter  was  discussed,  and  it  was  finally  decided  that 
the  trader  must  leave  or  they  would  put  him  to  death.  A 
warrior,  who  was  a  great  friend  of  the  trader,  was  sent  to  tell 
him  of  the  decision  of  the  council,  and  when  he  did  so  the 
trader  laughed,  and  said  if  he  would  come  into  the  back  of  the 
store,  and  never  tell  any  body,  he  would  show  him  what  ailed 
the  chief.  The  warrior  went,  and  the  trader  gave  him  a  ladle 
full  of  the  black  water  to  drink.  Presently  he  began  to  sing 
and  dance  about,  and  then  went  out  into  the  street  and  sang, 
which  greatly  surprised  every  one,  for  he  had  never  done  so 


188  RELPEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

before.  The  young  men  gathered  about  him,  and  asked  him 
what  ailed  him,  but  he  only  said,  "  Oh,  go  to  the  trader  and 
get  some  of  the  black  water ! "  So  they  went  to  the  trader, 
and  inquired  what  kind  of  black  water  he  had  that  affected 
people  so  strangely;  and  the  trader  told  them  he  had  only  the 
same  kind  of  water  they  drank,  and  brought  out  his  pail,  that 
they  all  might  drink.  Each  warrior  took  up  the  ladle  and 
drank  some,  and  made  the  trader  drink  some,  and  then  they 
sat  down  to  wait  and  see  if  it  would  affect  them  like  the  chief 
and  their  brother  warrior;  but  it  did  not,  and  they  rose  up 
and  said,  "  The  trader  or  our  brother  lies,  and  we  will  see  who 
is  the  liar."  They  went  to  the  warrior's  lodge,  and  found  him 
sound  asleep,  nor  could  they  wake  him.  Two  remained  to 
watch  by  him,  and  the  others  went  to  their  teepees.  When 
the  sun  was  up,  the  warrior  rose,  and,  seeing  the  others  sitting 
in  his  tent,  said,  "Why  are  you  here,  my  brothers?"  And 
the  eldest  of  the  two  warriors  replied,  "  You  have  lied  to  us, 
for  the  trader  has  no  black  water."  The  warrior,  recollecting 
his  promise  not  to  tell,  said,  "  It  is  true  that  the  trader  has  no 
black  water,  and  who  said  he  had?"  They  explained  to  him 
his  conduct  of  the  day  before,  at  which  he  was  greatly  aston 
ished,  and  he  declared  if  such  was  the  case  he  must  have  been 
very  sick  in  his  head  and  not  known  what  he  had  said.  There 
upon  the  warriors  withdrew  and  reported  all  to  their  brethren. 
The  warriors  were  greatly  perplexed,  and  knew  not  what  to 
do  or  think,  but  decided  to  wait  and  see. 

The  chief  and  warrior  were  now  drunk  every  day,  and  the 
young  chief  called  another  council.  It  was  long  and  stormy 
in  its  debate,  all  the  wise  men  speaking,  but  no  one  giving 
such  council  as  the  others  would  accept.  At  last  a  young  war 
rior  rose  and  said  that  he  had  watched,  and  that  it  was  true 


BELDEJS:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  189 

the  trader  had  a  black  water  which  he  gave  the  chief  and 
warrior  to  drink,  for  he  had  made  a  hole  in  the  wall  of  the 
trader's  store,  and  through  it  saw  them  drinking  the  black 
water.  He  advised  them  to  bring  the  trader  and  warrior  be 
fore  them,  and  he  would  accuse  them  to  their  face  of  what  he 
had  seen,  and  if  they  denied  the  truth  he  would  fight  them. 

This  speech  was  received  with  great  satisfaction,  and  the 
young  chief  at  once^ent  some  warriors  to  fetch  the  trader  and 
their  brother. 

When  they  were  come  into  the  council  and  seated,  the  young 
warrior  repeated  all  he  had  said,  and  asked  if  it  were  not  true 
that  they  would  fight  him.  The  warrior  who  was  first  asked 
rose  up  and  said  the  young  warrior  lied,  and  that  he  was  ready 
to  fight  him;  but  when  the  trader  was  told  to  stand  up  and 
answer,  he,  seeing  there  was  no  use  in  denying  the  matter,  con 
fessed  all. 

- 

He  said  the  black  water  was  given  him  by  the  white  people, 
a  great  many  of  whom  drank  it,  and  it  made  them  behave  as 
they  had  seen  the  chief  and  the  warrior  do.  He  also  told  them 
that  after  a  man  drank  of  it  he  felt  happy,  laughed  and  sang, 
and  when  he  laid  down  he  dreamed  pleasant  dreams  and  slew 
his  enemies. 

The  curiosity  of  the  warriors  was  greatly  excited,  and  the 
young  chief  bade  the  trader  go  and  bring  some  of  his  black 
water,  that  they  might  taste  it.  He  was  about  to  depart,  when 
the  young  warrior,  who  had  before  spoken,  rose  and  desired 
him  to  be  seated,  when  he  said : 

"The  warriors  heard  my  speech,  and  it  was  good.  The 
brother,  however,  when  I  asked  him  if  he  would  tell  the  coun 
cil  the  truth,  said  I  lied,  and  he  would  fight  me.  Let  us  now 
go  out  of  the  village  and  fight." 


190  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

The  young  chief  asked  the  drunkard  if  he  had  any  thing  t«, 
say,  when  he  arose  and  addressed  the  council  as  follows : 

"  Oh,  my  brethren,  it  is  true  that  I  have  drank  of  the  black 
water,  and  that  I  have  lied.  When  the  trader  first  gave  it  to 
me  to  drink,  he  made  me  promise  I  would  never  tell  what  it 
was  or  where  I  got  it,  and  he  has  many  times  since  said  if  I 
told  any  one  he  would  never  give  me  any  more  to  drink.  Oh, 
my  brethren,  the  black  water  is  most  wonderful,  and  I  have 
come  to  love  it  better  tkan  my  life  or  the  truth.  The  fear  of 
never  having  any  more  of  it  to  drink  made  me  lie,  and  I  have 
nothing  more  to  say  but  that  I  am  ready  to  fight." 

Then  the  council  adjourned,  and  every  one  went  out  to  see 
the  warriors  fight.  They  were  both  men  of  great  skill  and 
bravery,  and  the  whole  village  came  to  see  the  battle.  He 
who  had  drank  the  black  water  was  the  best  spearsman  in 
the  tribe,  and  every  one  expected  to  see  the  other  warrior 
killed.  ,  * 

The  spears  were  brought,  and  when  they  were  given  to  the 
combatants  it  was  seen  that  the  hand  of  him  who  had  lied 
shook  so  he  could  hardly  hold  his  spear.  -At  this  his  friends 
rallied  him,  and'  asked  him  if  he  was  afraid.  He  replied  that 
his  heart  was  brave,  but  that  his  hand  trembled,  though  not 
with  fear,  for  it  had  shook  so  for  many  days. 

Then  the  battle  began,  and  at  the  second  throw  of  the 
spears,  he  with  the  trembling  hand  was  clove  through  the  heart, 
and  killed  instantly,  while  the  other  warrior  did  not  even  re 
ceive  a  wound. 

After  the  fight  was  over,  the  warriors  all  went  to  the  trader's 
lodge,  and  he  brought  out  in  a  pail  more  than  a  quart  of  the 
black  water,  which  he  gave  in  small  quantities  to  each  warrior. 
When  they  had  swallowed  it,  they  began  to  dance  and  sing, 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  193 

and  many  lay  down  on  the  ground  and  slept  as  though  they 
were  dead. 

Next  day  they  came  again  and  asked  for  more  black  water ; 
and  so  they  came  each  day,  dancing  and  singing,  for  more  than 
a  week.  0 

One  morning  the  trader  said  he  would  give  them  no  more 
black  water  unless  they  paid  him  for  it,  and  this  they  did. 
The  price  was  at  first  one  robe  for  each  sup  sufficient  to  make 
them  sleep,  but,  as  the  black  water  became  scarce,  two  robes, 
and  finally  three  were  paid  for  a  sleep.  Then  the  trader  said 
he  had  no  more  except  a  little  for  himself,  and  this  he  would 
not  sell;  but  the  warriors  begged  so  hard  for  some  he  gave 
them  a  sleep  for  many  robes.  Even  the  body  robes  were  soon 
in  the  hands  of  the  trader,  and  the  warriors  were  very  poor, 
but  still  they  begged  for  more  black  water,  giving  a  pony  in 
exchange  for  each  sleep.  The  trader  took  all  the  ponies,  and 
then  the  warriors  offered  their  squaws,  but  there  was  no  more 
black  water,  and  the  trader  said  he  would  go  and  fetch  some. 

He  packed  all  the  robes  on  the  ponies,  and  was  about  to  set 
out,  when  a  warrior  made  a  speech,  saying  that  now  that  he 
had  all  their  robes  and  ponies,  and  they  were  very  poor,  the 
trader  was  going  away  and  would  never  return,  for  they  had 
nothing  more  to  give  him.  So  the  warriors  said  he  should  not 
depart,  and  ordered  him  to  unpack  the  ponies.  The  trader 
told  them  he  would  soon  return  with  plenty  of  black  water, 
and  give  it  to  them  as  he  did  at  first.  Many  of  the  warriors 
were  willing  he  should  depart,  but  others  said  no,  and  one  de 
clared  that  he  had  plenty  of  black  water  still  left,  and  was 
going  off  to  trade  with  their  enemies,  the  Sioux.  This  created 
great  excitement,  and  the  trader's  store  and  all  his  packs  were 
searched,  but  no  black  water  found.  Still  the  warrior  asserted 
12 


194  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

he  had  it,  and  that  it  was  hidden  away.  The  warriors  de 
clared  that  they  would  kill  him  unless  he  instantly  told  them 
where  he  had  hid  it,  and  upon  his  not  being  able  to  do  so,  they 
rushed  into  his  lodge  and  murdered  him  before  the  eyes  of  his 
squaw,  tearing  off  ^iis  scalp  and  stamping  upon  his  body.  This 
so  alarmed  the  white  squaw  she  attempted  to  run  out  of  the 
lodge,  and,  as  she  came  to  the  door,  a  warrior  struck  her  on  the 
head  with  his  tomahawk,  and  she  fell  down  as  though  she  were 
dead. 

The  chief  made  a  great  speech,  saying  that  now,  as  the  trader 
was  dead,  they  would  burn  his  lodge  and  take  back  all  their 
robes  and  ponies.  So  the  lodge  was  fired,  and  as  it  burned  a 
Crow  squaw  saw  by  its  light  the  white  squaw  lying  before  the 
door,  and  that  she  was  not  dead,  and  she  took  her  to  her  lodge, 
sewed  up  her  wounds,  and  gave  her  something  to  eat.  The 
squaw  lived  and  got  well,  but  she  was  crazy,  and  could  not 
bear  the  sight  of  a  warrior,  believing  every  one  who  came  near 
her  was  going  to  kill  her. 

One  day  the  white  squaw  was  missing,  and  the  w^ole  village 
turned  out  to  look  for  her.  They  followed  her  tracks  far  down 
the  river,  but  could  not  find  her.  Some  women  out  gathering 
berries  a  few  days  afterward,  said  the  white  squaw  came  to 
them  and  asked  for  food,  showing  them,  at  the  same  time, 
where  she  was  hiding  in  the  bluffs  near  by.  She  begged  them 
not  to  tell  the  warriors  where  she  was,  or  they  would  come  and 
kill  her.  The  squaws  tried  to  dissuade  her  from  a  notion  so 
foolish,  but  they  could  not  get  her  to  return  to  the  village. 

Every  day  the  squaws  went  and  took  her  food,  and  she  lived 
for  many  months,  no  one  knowing  where  she  was  but  the 
women.  When  the  warriors  came  about  she  hid  away,  and 
would  not  stir  out  until  they  were  gone. 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  195 

One  day,  however,  a  warrior  out  hunting  antelope  came  sud 
denly  upon  her,  and  she  fled  away,  but  he  followed  her,  wish 
ing  to  bring  her  to  the  village.  All  day  she  ran  over  the  hills, 
and  at  night  the  warrior  came  back,  being  unable  to  catch  her. 
She  was  never  seen  again,  and  what  became  of  her  is  not 
known,  although  it  is  likely  she  died  of  hunger,  or  that  the 
wild  beasts  destroyed  her. 

Ever  after,  when  the  Indians  came  here  to  camp,  they  told 
the  story  of  the  crazy  woman,  and  the  place  became  known  as 
"the  place  of  the  crazy  woman,"  and  the  name  of  "Big 
Beard  "  was  almost  entirely  forgotten.  * 

*  The  moral  pointed  in  this  tale,  and  the  language  that  adorns  it,  are,  in 
my  judgment,  both  admirable.  The  story  is  probably  entirely  true,  and  an 
actual  occurrence.  The  "  Big  Beard  "  grass  mentioned  still  grows  in  the 
valley,  and  the  stream,  though  yet  far  beyond  the  most  remote  cabin  of  the 
white  man,  is  known  to  all  frontiersmen,  and  is  laid  down  on  all  maps  as 
"  Crazy  Woman. " 

The  conduct  of  the  chief  and  warriors  after  drinking  the  black  water, 
the  fate  of  him  of  the  "  unsteady  hand,"  and  the  death  of  the  trader,  are 
all  thrillingly  told  by  Mr.  Belden,  and  with  a  naturalness  and  adherence 
to  truth  that  is  quite  surprising  in  an  Indian  tale. — EDITOR. 


196  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 

STEALING  PONIES  FROM  THE  INDIANS — NELSON,  MY  COMPANION — A  SHORT 
BIOGRAPHY — DANGEROUS  SITUATION — DISCOVERY  OF  THE  INDIAN  VILLAGE 
— NELSON'S  COOLNESS — WATCHING  THE  VILLAGE  FROM  THE  HILLS — IN  THE 
INDIAN  CAMP — THE  OLD  SQUAW — THE  ALARM — STAMPEDING  THE  PONIES 
— THE  PURSUIT — A  NIGHT  MARCH — FIGHTING  THE  INDIANS — A  FRIENDLY 

GROVE ANOTHER    NIGHT    MARCH THE     SURPRISE — THE     RESULT — A     SAFE 

ARRIVAL   AT    HOME. 

BEFORE  returning  home,  I  made  up  my  mind  to  steal 
some  ponies  from  our  enemies,  who  had  given  us  so  much 
annoyance.  Nelson,  whose  name  I  have  not  before  mentioned, 
was  a  white  man,  and  had  accompanied  us  for  the  purpose  of 
hunting,  and  having  a  share  in  such  adventures  as  might  fall 
to  the  lot  of  our  party.  He  had  a  Sioux  wife  and  two  chil 
dren,  but  was  a  roving,  reckless,  dare-devil  sort  of  fellow,  who 
always  needed  to  be  led,  and  who  could  never  be  intrusted  to 
lead  in  any  expedition,  on  account  of  his  rashness  and  indis 
cretion. 

Nelson  and  I  set  out  alone  to  steal  some  ponies  from  our  In 
dian  foes,  little  caring  whether  they  were  Pawnees,  Cheyennes, 
Arrapahoes,  or  Sioux,  so  we  got  their  horses.  We  rode  on  for 
several  days,  and  finally  halted  one  evening  by  a  clear  running 
stream.  While  I  fixed  up  the  camp,  Nelson  took  a  jog  down 
the  creek  to  see  that  all  was  clear,  and,  if  possible,  shoot  a  deer 
for  our  supper.  He  soon  returned  with  plenty  of  game,  re- 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  197 

marking  he  had  seen  no  Indian  signs,  but  thought  he  had,  from 
the  top  of  a  hill  beyond  the  stream,  discovered  smoke  rising, 
far  down  to  the  east.  We  made  but  little  fire,  and,  then  putting 
it  out  after  supper,  circled  around  the  adjacent  hills  once,  and 
seeing  nothing,  returned  and  lay  down  to  rest. 

1  was  up  before  daylight,  for  I  felt  uneasy,  and  rousing 
Nelson,  told  him  to  go  out  on  the  hills  and  keep  a  lookout  while 
I  kindled  the  fire  and  cooked  breakfast.  He  soon  disappeared 
over  the  bluff  with  his  pony,  and  I  hurried  to  prepare  the  morn 
ing  repast  of  fresh  antelope,  broiled  over  the  coals.  The 
breakfast  was  ready,  but  no  Nelson  was  there.  I  ate  heartily, 
and  waited  for  him  an  hour,  but  still  he  did  not  come,  and  I 
was  preparing  to  mount  my  pony  and  follow  his  trail  when, 
just  as  the  first  rays  of  the  sun  were  streaming  over  the  hill 
tops,  he  came  riding  leisurely  into  camp,  and  reported  that  he 
had  gone  over  to  the  hill  from  which  he  thought  he  saw  smoke 
the  night  before,  and  sure  enough,  he  saw  it  again  rising  dis 
tinctly  against  the  sky,  not  more  than  three  miles  distant.  He 
rode  down  the  creek-bottom,  and  was  soon  able  to  discover  a 
large  party  of  Indians  preparing  their  breakfast ;  and,  leaving 
them  to  enjoy  their  meal  in  peace,  he  had  returned  to  tell  me  all 
about  it,  and  get  his  own  breakfast.  The  coolness  of  the  fellow 
nettled  me  not  a  little.  One  would  have  thought,  to  have  looked 
at  him,  that  he  was  dining  in  a  first-class  restaurant  in  a  peace 
ful  town,  instead  of  eating  within  a  few  miles  of  a  band  of 
hostile  Indians,  who  might  at  any  moment  dash  down  upon  us 
and  put  a  stop  to  our  ever  eating  again.  I  said  to  him,  "  Hurry 
up,  Nelson,  and  let  us  get  out  of  this,  for  a  straggling  Indian 
mav,  at  any  moment,  discover  our  camp,  and  lead  the  whole 
band  down  upon  us."  "Well,  'Squire,"  he  replied,  as  was  his 
custom  to  call  me,  "  I  reckon  you  would  n't  turn  a  fellow  out  to 


198  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

such  hot  work,  as  we  are  likely  to  have,  without  givin'  him  a 
square  meal,  would  ye  ? "  I  bade  him  again  hurry,  but  was 
forced  to  wait  until  he  gorged  himself  to  his  heart's  content. 
Then  we  rode  out  into  the  hills  to  reconnoiter,  and  consult  what 
was  best  to  be  done. 

We  crawled  along  behindlhe  bluffs,  until  we  got  sight  of  the 
Indian  encampment.  It  was  quite  large,  and  evidently  per 
fectly  at  rest.  All  day  we  lay  in  the  bluffs,  keenly  scrutinizing 
every  party  of  warriors  that  left  the  camp.  Once  a  party  struck 
out  in  a  direction  that  we  knew  must  cross  our  trail,  and  we  felt 
much  anxiety,  but  as  hour  after  hour  wore  away,  and  we  heard 
nothing  of  them,  we  concluded  they  must  have  crossed  with 
out  observing  it.  During  the  day,  we  discovered  that  the 
encampment  was  a  temporary  one,  and  that  from  the  scarcity 
of  men,  most  of  the  warriors  were  out  hunting,  or  on  the  war 
path  ;  intelligence  not  a  little  gratifying  to  us,  and  favorable 
to  our  design.  From  the  signs,  we  also  concluded,  the  village 
was  composed  of  the  families  of  warriors,  and  that  they  had 
been  left  behind  with  a  very  small  guard. 

As  soon  as  it  was  dark,  Nelson  and  I  crept  down  from  the 
bluffs  and  crawled  to  the  village.  This  we  did  early,  to  pre 
vent  the  dogs  from  noticing  us,  for  it  is  a  peculiarity  of  Indian 
dogs,  that  they  seldom  become  vigilant  until  some  hours  after 
dark.  We  lay  for  some  time,  and  then  began  to  move  about 
among  the  ponies.  Nelson  went  to  the  right  and  I  to  the  left. 
Several  times  warriors  passed  and  repassed,  but  whenever  they 
came  near  me,  I  wrapped  my  blanket  closely  about  me,  and 
pretended  I  was  asleep,  when,  no  doubt  thinking  I  was  one 
of  the  warriors  who  had  been  out  hunting  all  day,  and  was 
tired,  they  passed  on,  leaving  me  to  my  repose.  Every  oppor 
tunity  I  got,  I  cut  a  lariat,  or  hopple,  and  after  working 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  199 

industriously  for  an  hour  with  my  butcher-knife,  I  had 
loosened  some  twenty  ponies.  Nelson  had,  meantime,  been 
busy,  and  having  a  side  of  the  town  that  was  not  subject  to 
interruptions  from  strolling  warriors  or  squaws,  he  had  suc 
ceeded  in  severing  some  forty  horses  from  their  pickets.  AYe 
were  succeeding  admirably,  when  an  old  squaw  came  out  to 
change  the  grazing-ground  of  her  pony  and  found  him  gone. 
She  ran  to  the  picket-stake,  and  picking  up  the  end  of  the  rope, 
felt  it,  and  finding  it  had  been  cut,  set  up  a  howl,  that  brought 
the  warriors  tumbling  from  their  lodges.  Nelson  gave  me  the 
signal  to  "run,"  and  springing  on  a  little  black  pony  that 
stood  near  me,  I  swung  my  blanket  around  my  head,  flirted 
it  in  the  faces  of  the  ponies,  and  shouting,  "  Ploo-yah-hoo ! " 
at  the  top  of  my  lungs,  started  some  twenty  of  them  toward 
the  bluffs.  Nelson  was  equally  lucky,  and  in  the  confusion 
that  ensued  in  the  village,  we  managed  to  get  together.  All 
was  noise  and  excitement  throughout  the  town;  children 
screamed,  women  shouted,  men  whooped,  while  the  dogs  set 
up  a  dismal  howling.  Shots  fell  thick  and  fast  around  us, 
but  we  succeeded  in  reaching  the  bluffs  unhurt  with  all  our 
ponies. 

We  pushed  along  smartly  for  a  mile  or  two,  each  moment 
getting  deeper  into  the  hills.  Turning  now  to  the  right,  then 
to  the  left,  we  kept  very  quiet,  hoping  in  the  darkness  to 
throw  the  pursuers  off  our  trail,  and  before  daylight  be  far  to 
the  eastward.  Just  as  we  began  to  hope  we  were  not  to  be 
followed,  we  heard  the  Indians  directly  behind  us,  and,  judging 
by  the  clatter  of  the  ponies'  hoofs,  the  party  was  a  strong  one. 
They,  however,  approached  with  great  caution,  not  knowing  our 
strength,  and  fearing  an  ambush.  Twice  they  made  ineffectual 
attempts  to  stampede  the  herd  by  sending  warriors  ahead  and 


200  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

concealing  them  on  the  line  of  our  march,  but  the  extreme 
cowardice  of  the  savages  caused  them  to  run  away  almost  as 
soon  as  they  shouted  at  the  ponies.  So  we  jogged  along  until 
near  daylight,  hoping  each  moment  that  our  pursuers  would 
turn  back,  for  we  did  not  wish  them  to  know  our  weakness, 
and  it  was  evident  the  first  streaks  of  morning  would  disclose 
to  them  our  numbers.  Having  kept  remarkably  quiet  for 
nearly  an  hour,  the  Indians  had  become  quite  bold,  when  sud 
denly  Nelson  and  I  turned  and  charged  them.  They  were  in 
a  gulch  at  the  time,  and,  believing  they  were  cut  off,  rode 
furiously  for  the  mouth  of  the  gorge,  nearly  a  mile  in  their 
rear.  We  did  not  pursue  them,  but  returned  to  the  herd, 
leaving  them  to  continue  their  flight  until  their  fears  should 
subside.  We  had  not  gone  far,  however,  until  we  heard  them 
coming  on  again  close  behind  us.  Nelson  said  he  knew  of 
some  timber  not  far  to  the  north,  and  we  drove  hard,  hoping 
to  reach  it  before  day  would  break,  but  as  we  were  crossing 
the  prairie,  streaks  of  red  shot  up  the  eastern  sky,  and  soon  ob 
jects  were  distinguishable  all  around  us.  We  saw  we  had  lost 
many  of  the  ponies  in  the  darkness  during  the  night,  but  still 
had  some  twenty  left.  Telling  Nelson  to  drive  these  on,  I 
halted  on  a  rise  in  the  prairie  to  wait  for  our  enemies  to  come 
up.  They  soon  appeared  over  a  bluff,  and  I  saw  they  num 
bered  twelve  by  actual  count.  The  odds  were  fearful,  but  1 
felt  relieved,  for  I  had  thought  not  less  than  twenty  were  in 
the  pursuit,  and  I  now  sincerely  regretted  Nelson  and  I  had 
not  ambushed  them  during  the  night.  They  continued  to  fol 
low  cautiously,  until,  seeing  there  were  but  two  of  us,  they  set 
up  a  great  shout,  and  came  on  whooping  and  howling  like 
demons.  I  dismounted  behind  a  little  hill,  and,  taking  delib 
erate  aim  with  my  Henry  rifle,  as  the  foremost  Indian  came 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  201 

around  the  turn  of  the  hill,  I  dropped  him  from  his  pony.  I 
now  pumped  the  shot  at  them  as  fast  as  I  could,  until  I  had 
nearly  emptied  the  chamber  of  my  gun,  and  had  the  satisfac 
tion  of  seeing  them  turn  back,  carrying  two  of  their  wounded 
companions  with  them. 

Rejoining  Nelson,  we  pushed  on  for  the  timber,  which  was 
now  only  a  few  miles  distant,  and  had  nearly  succeeded  in 
reaching  it  when  the  Indians  charged  down  upon  us  again. 
There  were  but  eight  left  in  the  pursuit,  and,  taking  my  shot 
gun,  I  loaded  each  barrel  with  a  powerful  charge  of  powder 
and  nine  buckshot ;  then,  waiting  until  the  Indians  were  quite 
close,  and  as  much  together  as  possible,  I  wheeled  and  fired 
both  barrels  at  them.  The  shot  raked  them  like  grape  and 
canister,  and  I  could  see  three  or  four  of  them  were  slightly 
wounded.  They  could  not  understand  where  so  many  balls  had 
come  from  when  they  saw  but  one  man  fire,  and  so  became 
more  cautious  than  ever.  At  sunrise  we  reached  the  friendly 
shelter  of  the  grove,  and  driving  in  the  tired  ponies,  left  them 
to  graze,  while  Nelson  and  I  sallied  out,  and,  boldly  attacking 
the  Indians,  chased  them  over  the  plain,  firing  as  rapidly  as  we 
could  with  our  Henry's.  We  succeeded  in  wounding  one  fel 
low,  but  Nelson  got  a  ball  through  the  arm,  nearly  disabling 
him,  and  we  returned  to  the  grove. 

We  lay  all  day  in  the  woods  resting,  but  saw  nothing  more 
of  the  Indians.  Nelson's  wound  was  quite  painful,  but  not 
dangerous,  and  we  dressed  it  with  green  leaves  and  .cold 
water. 

As  soon  as  it  was  dark  we  set  out  again,  and  drove  along 
cautiously,  fearing  the  Indians  were  up  to  some  devilment,  as 
they  had  been  so  quiet  all  day.  The  night  wore  away,  how 
ever,  and  we  began  to  feel  assured  there  would  be  no  attack, 

18 


202  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

when,  while  we  were  driving  along  a  narrow  cafion,  a  shout 
ing  arose  in  front,  followed  by  a  few  rapid  shots,  and  the  ter 
rified  ponies,  turning  suddenly,  nearly  ran  over  us.  We  suc 
ceeded  in  keeping  seven  in  the  can" on,  but  the  rest  escaped  to 
the  open  prairie,  where  we  saw  the  Indians  driving  them 
off.  We  made  no  attempt  to  pursue  them,  contenting  ourselves 
with  the  seven  we  had  left,  and  finding  it  all  we  could  do  to 
keep  them,  as  the  little  fellows  were  disposed  to  escape  and  fol 
low  the  rest  of  the  herd. 

We  now  drove  rapidly  to  the  east,  hoping  the  Indians  would 
be  satisfied  with  ^what  they  had  got,  and  leave  us  to  pursue  our 
way  in  peace ;  but,  elated  by  their  success,  they  came  on  again, 
and  charged  the  herd,  apparently  determined  to  get  the  remain 
ing  seven.  My  blood  was  now  up,  for  I  thought  they  were 
acting  a  piggish  part  in  wanting  all,  and  riding  over  a  little  rise 
in  the  prairie,  I  dropped  from  my  pony,  and  as  the  first  In 
dian  came  on  the  crest  of  the  divide,  I  shot  him  dead  as  a 
door  nail.  His  companions  ran  to  him,  and  I  gave  them  a 
round  dozen  of  Henry  balls,  causing  them  to  dodge  and  scatter 
in  all  directions.  After  this  they  came  on  again  several  times, 
but  when  I  turned  and  presented  my  Henry,  as  much  as  to 
say,  "  Keep  off, "  they  would  run  fit  to  break  their  necks.  All 
day  the  red  devils  followed  us,  but  at  sundown  gave  up  the 
chase,  and  in  the  twilight  we  saw  them  galloping  over  the  hills 
far  to  our  rear  on  their  return  to  the  village.  We  were  not 
again  disturbed,  and  on  the  evening  of  the  seventh  day  en 
tered  our  own  village,  bringing  in  safely  all  our  seven  ponies, 
and  finding  our  friends,  whom  we  had  left  on  the  "  Crazy 
Woman, "  at  home  to  welcome  us. 


BELDEN:   THE  WHITE   CHIEF.  205 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

LEGFND  OF  THE  WHITE  BUFFALO — THE  CROW    CHIEF'S    DAUGHTER — UNREASON 
ABLE  CONDUCT  OF  HER  FATHER — THE  YOUNG  CHIEF — HIS  SUIT  DENIED THE 

WHITE  BUFFALO THE  MAIDEN'S  SHAME — A  DEATH    COUNCIL STORY  OF   THE 

GIRL — ANOTHER  COUNCIL — THE  YOUNG  CHIEF  AND  THE  MAIDEN  CONDEMNED 
TO  DEATH — BATTLE  WITH  THE  WHITE  BUFFALO-— LED  OUT  TO  DIB — DISCOV 
ERY  OF  THE  WHITE  BUFFALO — THE  PRISONERS  SAYED — DEATH  OF  THE  WHITE 
BUFFALO — A  HAPPY  MARRIAGE. 

DURING  the  dull  days  we  lay  in  camp,  waiting  for  the 
buffalo  season  to  begin.     I  heard  many  curious  tales  and 
legends  related   by  the   Indians,   and   some  of  these  I   will 
repeat. 

Once  there  lived  on  the  Big  Horn  River,  at  the  place  where 
Fort  Smith  was  afterward  built,  a  Crow  chief  who  had  a  most 
beautiful  daughter.  Many  of  the  young  men  in  the  tribe 
courted  her  and  were  anxious  to  marry  her,  but  her  father 
would  not  part  with  her  unless  he  received  a  hundred  ponies ; 
and,  as  no  warrior  was  able  to  give  so  much  for  a  wife,  she 
was  obliged  to  remain  single.  A  young  chief,  who  loved  the 
maiden  dearly,  and  desired  to  possess  her,  urged  the  old  chief, 
her  father,  to  reduce  the  number  of  ponies,  but  he  only  became 
more  morose,  and  finally  declared  no  one  should  marry  his 
daughter  unless  he  had  a  hundred  ponies  that  had  been  cap 
tured  in  battle.  As  such  a  thing  was  impossible,  the  young 
warrior  despaired,  and  shut  himself  up  in  his  tent  and  refused 


206  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

to  eat.  The  girl,  who  loved  him  dearly,  sent  him  word  to  be 
of  good  heart  and  persevere,  for  she  would  be  faithful  to  him, 
and  die  rather  than  marry  any  other  warrior.  Greatly  encour 
aged  by  this  message,  the  young  man  ate  again,  and  all  went 
along  smoothly  for  several  months. 

The  lodge  of  the  maiden  was  pitched  close  beside  that  of  her 
father's,  and  occupied  by  her  alone.  Often  at  night  the  wily 
old  chief  thought  he  heard  strange  noises  in  his  daughter's 
lodge,  but,  when  questioned,  she  always  denied  that  she  had 
heard  any  noise,  or  that  any  thing  unusual  had  occurred. 

One  day,  however,  she  could  no  longer  conceal  her  shame 
from  her  mother,  and  confessed  that  she  was  about  to  bear  a 
child.  When  the  old  chief  heard  of  it  he  was  greatly  enraged, 
and  assembled  his  council,  that  measures  might  be  taken  for 
putting  her  to  death,  and  thus  wiping  out  the  disgrace  of  his 
family. 

When  the  council  was  assembled,  the  girl  was  brought  before 
it,  and  her  father  sternly  commanded  her  to  explain  the  cause 
of  her  disgrace.  To  the  astonishment  of  every  one,  she  came 
not  as  a  guilty  wretch,  but  with  head  erect,  and  a  clear,  flash 
ing  eye.  When  any  of  the  old  men  questioned  her,  she  looked 
disdainfully  at  them,  and  bade  them  hold  their  peace,  for  she 
was  a  chief's  daughter,  and  would  answer  only  to  her  august 
father.  Her  conduct  greatly  pleased  the  chief,  and  he  said, 
aside,  that  whatever  might  be  her  fault  she  was  a  real  Crow, 
and  fit  to  be  his  daughter.  When  commanded  by  her  father 
to  relate  all  that  had  happened  to  her,  she  arose  and  said: 
"Venerable  fathers,  and  you,  my  noble  chief,  some  moons  ago, 
one  night,  a  strange  thing  happened  to  me,  such  as  perhaps 
never  happened  before  to  any  maid  in  the  world.  I  was  sleep 
ing  in  my  lodge,  by  the  side  of  my  noble  father  there,  when 


BELDEN:   THE  WHITE   CHIEF.  207 

suddenly  I  heard  a  most  peculiar  noise  as  of  hoofs  and  some 
animal  walking.  I  became  conscious  of  something  being  in  my 
teepee,  and,  being  greatly  frightened,  I  lay  still.  Presently  I 
heard  the  coals  being  scraped  together  on  the  hearth,  and 
blown  into  a  flame.  When  it  was  light  I  looked,  expecting  to 
see  a  man,  when  I  would  have  called  my  father,  but,  strange 
to  relate,  I  saw,  not  a  man,  but  a  white  buffalo.  He  walked 
upon  his  hind  feet,  and  I  was  so  terrified  I  could  neither 
speak  nor  move.  He  came  to  my  bed  and  sat  down,  and  I 
fainted  away.  When  I  awoke,  he  was  gone.  So  he  came 
every  night  to  see  me,  and  each  time  I  was  as  much  frightened 
as  before,  and  entirely  unable  to  call  out  for  help.  The  animal 
was  very  careful  not  to  hurt  me  with  his  hoofs  or  horns,  and 
how  it  came  about  I  can  not  tell,  but  in  a  few  months  I  found 
myself  in  the  condition  you  now  see  me,  and  I  have  no  one  to 
blame  for  my  misfortune  but  the  white  buffalo/' 

The  chiefs  had  listened  to  this  harangue  with  great  patience, 
and  when  she  had  done,  the  chief  asked  her  when  the  white 
buffalo  had  last  visited  her,  and  she  replied,  "  When  the  moon 
was  full,  and  that  he  would  come  again  the  first  full  moon." 

When  her  story  was  finished,  she  was  conducted  back  to  her 
lodge,  and  the  old  men  fell  to  debating  about  the  matter.  Most 
of  the  chiefs  did  not  believe  the  story,  for  they  said  that  such 
a  thing  as  a  white  buffalo  they  had  never  seen  in  all  their 
lives.  An  old  man  rose,  however,  and  said  there  was  once  a 
white  buffalo  on  the  plains,  and  that  he  did  strange  things, 
often  being  seen  in  the  clouds  and  walking  on  water.  This 
statement  greatly  confused  the  council,  and  they  fell  to  debat 
ing  anew.  At  last  a  chief,  who  was  very  old  and  wise,  said 
that  it  must  be  possible  for  a  woman  to  bear  children  without 
being  with  a  man,  for  many  years  ago,  when  he  went  to  see 


208  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

the  Great  Father  at  Washington,  the  whites  took  him  to  heai 
their  great  medicine  man,  and  the  medicine  man  told  of  a 
woman  who  had  brought  forth  a  child  without  lying  with  any 
man,  and  this  all  the  white  people  believed.  The  child  was 
not  only  born,  but  had  lived  many  years,  and  became  a  very 
great  medicine  man. 

At  last  it  came  the  turn  of  the  young  warrior,  who  had 
wished  to  marry  the  girl,  and  he  rose  and  said : 

"  I  do  not  doubt  the  story  of  the  girl,  nor  question  her  chastity. 
Undoubtedly  a  most  extraordinary  thing  has  happened,  but  all 
things  are  possible  to  the  Great  Spirit,  and  if  he  came  and  vis 
ited  our  daughter  in  the  form  of  a  white  buffalo,  it  is  no  more 
than  was  related  by  our  brother  about  the  daughter  of  the 
white  chief." 

This  speech  was  received  by  all  with  much  favor,  and  the 
great  chief,  who  had  not  spoken  a  word,  adjourned  the  council, 
stating  he  would  call  them  together  at  some  future  day,  to  talk 
further  concerning  the  matter. 

The  next  council  had  little  talk,  and  almost  unanimously 
agreed  the  young  girl  should  be  put  to  death,  when  the  young 
•  chief,  her  lover,  rose  and  said,  as  it  was  near  the  full  of  the 
moon,  when  the  white  buffalo  would  come  again,  he  begged 
that  the  execution  of  the  sentence  of  the  council  might  be 
delayed  until  after  the  full  moon,  when,  if  nothing  occurred  to 
corroborate  the  girl's  story,  she  should  die.  This  was  readily 
agreed  to,  and  the  pipe  was  passed  around,  to  see  in  whose 
hands  it  would  go  out,  that  he  might  be  selected  to  mount  guard 
over  the  girl's  teepee,  and  watch  for  the  white  buffalo.  The 
pipe  went  out  in  the  young  chief's  hands,  and  the  council 
adjourned. 

When  the  moon  was  at  its  full,  the  chief  took  up  his  position 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  209 

so  he  could  see  the  door  of  the  girl's  lodge,  but  could  not  be 
seen  himself.  He  also  instructed  her,  if  she  saw  the  buffalo, 
to  call  out,  and  he  would  immediately  rush  to  her  assistance. 
On  the  third  night  of  the  watch,  he  heard  her  scream,  and 
rushed  into  the  lodge  with  his  battle-ax,  when,  sure  enough, 
there  was  a  white  buffalo  standing  on  his  hind  legs.  As  the 
chief  came  up,  the  beast  raised  its  forefoot  to  strike  him,  but 
the  chief  brought  his  ax  down  with  such  force  that  it  com 
pletely  severed  the  hoof  from  the  leg.  The  next  moment, 
however,  the  chief  was  struck  senseless  by  the  other  forehoof, 
and  when  he  recovered  his  senses  the  buffalo  was  gone.  The 
old  chief,  who  had  heard  the  noise  of  the  conflict,  had  risen  and 
was  dressed,  when  the  young  chief,  who  was  still  suffering  from 
the  blow  he  had  received,  came  to  him,  and  said  that  the 
white  buffalo  had  indeed  appeared,  and  that  he  had  fought  with 
him,  and  cut  off  one  of  his  hoofs,  which  was  produced,  and  an 
examination  of  the  maiden's  teepee  showed  a  pool  of  blood, 
where  the  buffalo  had  bled  from  the  effect  of  his  wound.  Great 
excitement  spread  in  the  village  when  the  news  was  made 
known,  and  nearly  all  remained  up,  being  afraid  to  sleep. 

Early  next  morning  the  old  chief  assembled  the  council,  and 
the  debate  began.  The  father  of  the  girl  was  greatly  exas 
perated,  and  pronounced  the  whole  affair  a  lie,  a  fraud,  and 
swindle.  He  said  he  had  examined  the  ground  around  his 
daughter's  lodge,  but  could  find  no  footprints  of  a  buffalo,  yet 
every  one  must  know  that,  if  so  heavy  an  animal  as  a  buffalo 
had  passed  that  way,  he  must  have  left  deep  hoof-marks  in  the 
soft  soil.  It  was  also  absurd  that  the  buffalo  could  have 
got  into  the  girl's  lodge  without  being  seen  by  the  young  chief. 
In  his  opinion,  both  the  girl  ano!  the  chief  were  a  lying  pair, 

and  he  more  than  hinted  that  the  young  chief  was  himself  the 

19 


210  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

white  buffalo.  He  recommended,  that  both  the  girl  and  the 
chief  be  shot  to  death  with  arrows,  at  sunrise  in  the  morning. 

This  speech  had  great  effect,  and  the  council  almost  unani 
mously  voted  to  put  the  girl  and  her  supposed  paramour  to 
death.  They  were  led  away,  placed  under  a  guard,  and  bade 
prepare  for  their  fate  on  the  morrow. 

Now  it  so  happened,  that  there  was  a  warrior  in  the  village 
who  had  been  very  sick,  and  many  feared  he  would  die.  This 
warrior  was  greatly  admired  and  feared,  on  account  of  his 
bravery  and  prowess.  No  other  warrior  in  the  village  had 
slain  so  many  of  the  enemy,  no  one  was  so  strong,  and  none  so 
willing  to  go  to  battle.  His  sickness  excited  much  talk  in  the 
tribe,  for  all  hated  to  lose  so  valuable  a  defender.  He  would 
not  tell  What  ailed  him,  but  lay  all  the  day  long,  his  hands 
placed  under  his  robe,  and  apparently  suffering  great  pain. 
On  the  morning  of  the  execution,  a  girl  of  the  village  passed 
by  the  sick  warrior's  lodge,  and  stopped  in  to  tell  him  about 
the  fate  of  the  chief's  daughter  and  the  young  chief.  She  found 
the  warrior  asleep,  and  his  hands  lying  on  top  of  the  robe. 
The  bandages  had  fallen  off,  and  to  her  surprise,  she  saw  he 
had  but  one  hand,  the  other  being  gone.  Quickly  it  flashed 
through  her  mind,  that  the  warrior  had  something  to  do  with 
the  affair  of  the  white  buffalo,  and  she  ran  with  all  her  might 
toward  the  hill  beyond  the  village,  where  the  execution  was  to 
take  place.  As  she  drew  near  the  hill,  she  feared  she  would  be 
too  late,  for  she  saw  the  crowd  part,  the  prisoners  led  out,  and 
the  bowmen  take  their  places.  When  she  came  up,  the  young 
chief  was  making  his  last  speech,  and  the  bowmen,  with  arrows 
on  their  strings,  were  ready  to  fire  as  soon  as  he  should  con 
clude.  The  girl  rushed  up  to  the  great  medicine  man,  who 
was  conducting  the  execution,  and  whispered  something  in  his 


BELDEN:    THE    WHITE   CHIEF.  211 

ear,  at  which  he  was  greatly  astonished.  Then  he  listened,  and 
the  girl  repeated  what  she  had  said.  When  she  had  done 
speaking,  the  medicine  man  walked  between  the  condemned 
prisoners  and  the  bowmen,  and,  raising  his  hands,  bade  them 
put  up  their  arrows.  He  then  told  the  crowd,  bowmen,  pris 
oners,  and  all,  to  follow  him,  and  see  what  they  should  see. 
He  walked  down  to  the  village,  and  entering  the  sick  warrior's 
lodge,  bade  him  hold  up  his  hands.  At  first  he  refused  to  do 
so,  but  seeing  he  was  found  out,  he  held  up  his  arms,  and  ex 
hibited  one  hand  and  a  bloody  stump.  The  medicine  man 
asked  where  the  hoof  of  the  white  buffalo  was,  and  being  told 
it  was  at  the  old  chief 's  lodge,  he  bade  them  go  and  fetch  it. 
When  it  was  brought,  he  took  his  knife,  and,  splitting  open  the 
skin  of  the  hoof,  to  the  surprise  of  every  one,  drew  forth  a 
human  hand,  which  had  been  neatly  sewed  up  in  the  hoof. 
Holding  it  up,  so  all  could  see  it,  he  placed  it  on  the  stump 
beside  the  warrior's  other  hand,  and  it  fitted  exactly.  Every  one 
now  knew  who  was  the  white  buffalo,  and  all  cried  out,  "  Kill 
him  !  kill  him ! "  The  old  chief  hastily  assembled  an  informal 
council,  and  the  young  warrior  was  at  once  condemned  to  death. 
So  the  bowmen  who  were  to  shoot  the  young  chief  and  the  girl, 
shot  him  as  he  lay  in  his  tent. 

The  old  chief  was  so  pleased  when  he  knew  his  daughter  had 
told  him  the  truth,  that  he  conferred  her  in  marriage  on  her 
defender,  the  young  chief.  The  child  of  the  white  buffalo  was 
born  and  strangled,  after  which  the  young  chief  and  his  wife 
lived  many  years  happily  together,  and  raised  a  large  family  of 

handsome  daughters  and  brave  young  men. 
13 


212  BELDEN:    THE  WHITE   CHIEF. 


CHAPTEK    XXIX. 

STORY    OP    THE     STORM-CHILD A    FAMINE    AMONG    THE    CROW    INDIANS — THE 

JOURNEY  TO  THE  MOUNTAINS — PLENTY  OF  GAME — ARE  THREATENED  WITH 
STARVATION  AGAIN — THE  BIG  RING  HUNT — A  STORM — THE  HANDS  IN  THE 
CLOUDS — THE  GREEN  CHILD — DEATH  OF  THE  CROW  WARRIOR  WHO  TOUCHED 
IT — BIRTH  OF  THE  STORM-CHILD — A  SINGULAR  SUPERSTITION— THE  STORM- 
CHILD  LIVES  AND  GROWS  TO  BE  A  WOMAN. 

MANY  years  ago,  there  was  a  great  famine  among  the 
Indians  who  lived  along  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Big 
Horn  Mountains.  The  fall  hunt  of  the  Crows  had  proved 
unsuccessful,  and  they  knew  not  what  to  do.  A  winter  of  ter 
rible  severity  came  down  upon  them,  and  starvation  stared  them 
in  the  face.  They  were  at  last  reduced  to  great  extremity,  and 
runners  were  sent  out  in  all  directions  to  find  game.  One  of 
them  returned  one  day  with  the  joyful  intelligence  that  he  had 
found  a  locality  in  which  game  of  all  kinds  abounded.  The 
village  was  hastily  packed  up,  and  all  left  the  Big  Horn,  and 
journeying  for  several  days  under  the  guidance  of  the  young 
warrior,  they  at  length  came  to  a  thickly-wooded  country  full 
of  bears,  deer,  elk,  and  antelope.  The  encampment  was  pitched 
on  a  plain  by  a  stream,  and  soon  the  teepees  were  filled  with 
meat.  For  a  time,  all  went  well,  but  presently  'the  game,  being 
hunted  so  much,  began  to  move  off,  and  the  Crows  saw  starvation 
again  before  them.  They  determined  to  make  a  big  hunt,  and, 
if  possible,  take  enough  game  to  last  them  through  the  cold 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  215 

weather.  Men,  women,  and  children  turned  out,  and  surround 
ing  a  vast  extent  of  forest,  they  drove  the  game  toward  a 
common  center,  where  it  was  to  be  slaughtered.  The  hunt  was 
very  successful,  and  much  game  had  been  taken,  when  suddenly 
it  began  to  blow;  then  black  clouds  gathered,  the  thunder 
rolled,  and  the  lightnings  flashed  overhead,  while  strange  noises 
were  heard  in  the  earth.  The  Crows  were  greatly  frightened, 
for  they  never  had  heard  it  thunder  before  in  midwinter,  and 
from  the  rocking  and  trembling  of  the  earth,  they  thought  it 
was  about  to  fall  to  pieces  and  swallow  them  up.  Presently  an 
inky,  black  cloud  covered  the  peak  of  the  mountain  where  they 
had  driven  the  game,  and  after  resting  on  the  earth  a  few  mo 
ments,  it  rose  and  hung  over  the  mountain  top.  Then,  two  long 
arms  were  seen  to  reach  out  of  the  cloud  and  lay  something  on  the 
earth,  after  which  the  cloud  rose  in  the  air  and  drifted  swiftly 
away.  The  sky  cleared  off,  the  sun  shone  again  brightly,  and  the 
killing  of  the  game  went  on.  When  all  the  elk,  deer,  antelope, 
and  bears  were  slaughtered,  two  warriors  went  up  to  where  the 
cloud  had  been  seen  to  lay  something  on  the  earth,  and  there, 
resting  on  a  flat  rock,  they  discovered  a  young  female  child, 
perfectly  green  in  color.  They  called  up  several  squaws,  but 
none  of  them  could  be  induced  to  touch  it ;  on  the  other  hand, 
they  begged  the  warriors  to  come  away  and  leave  it.  When  no 
one  would  take  it  up,  one  of  the  warriors  said,  "  I  will  care  for 
it ; "  and  lifting  it  in  his  arms,  he  carried  it  down  the  mountain 
and  toward  the  village.  As  he  was  crossing  the  plain,  and 
when  quite  near  the  encampment,  all  heard  a  great  noise,  and 
looking  up,  they  saw  the  black  cloud  coming  back  and  rapidly 
approaching  the  warrior;  again  the  thunder  rolled,  the  light 
nings  flashed,  and  the  earth  shook.  Suddenly  the  warrior  was 
enveloped  in  a  bright  flame  and  fell  to  the  ground;  then,  the 


216  BELDEN  :   THE    WHITE   CHIEF. 

two  hands  were  seen  to  reach  out  of  the  cloud  and  grasp  the 
child,  which  disappeared  in  the  vapor,  and  the  whole,  lifting 
into  the  sky,  drifted  away  to  the  eastward.  The  warrior  was 
found  quite  dead,  and  his  skin  as  black  as  the  cloud  that  had 
enveloped  him.  He  was  taken  to  the  village,  and  the  next  day 
buried. 

While  the  warrior  was  being  enveloped  in  the  cloud,  an  old 
squaw,  who  had  not  borne  children  for  years,  stood  looking  at 
him.  No  sooner  did  she  see  the  child  disappear  in  the  vapor, 
than  she  felt  herself  seized  with  violent  labor-pains.  All  night 
she  suffered,  and,  in  the  morning,  was  delivered  of  a  female 
child,  perfectly  green,  like  live  grass.  The  Indians  all  said  it 
was  the  same  child  that  had  been  in  the  cloud,  and  that  the 
mysterious  hands  had  no  sooner  taken  it  from  the  warrior  than 
they  transferred  it  to  the  woman.  The  squaw  persisted  that  it 
was  not  the  child  of  a  man,  though  she  had  a  husband.  In 
token  of  its  strange  birth,  the  Indians  named  the  infant 
"  A-pa-ka-her-ra-ris ! "  the  one  who  dwells  in  the  clouds,  or, 
"  The  Storm-Child."  The  pappoose  lived  and  grew  finely,  and, 
in  course  of  time,  became  a  woman,  married,  and  had  a  large 
family.* 

*  Mr.  Belden  says,  "  I  often  saw  the  squaw  named  *  The  Storm-Child,' 
and  truth  compels  me  to  say,  that  I  have  seen  few  uglier  Indian  women." 

NOTE. — This  story  originated  in  a  natural  phenomenon.  There  was  a 
storm,  and  a  squaw,  frightened  by  it,  gave  premature  birth  to  a  child.  The 
warrior  was  killed  by  lightning,  and  the  color  of  the  child,  and  the  hands 
seen  in  the  clouds,  are  purely  Indian  exaggerations.  It  frequently  thun 
ders  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  in  the  winter  time,  though  seldom  so  far 
north  as  the  lands  of  the  Crows.  The  "Storm-Child"  is  still  living,  and 
greatly  feared  and  respected  by  her  tribe,  on  account  of  her  supposed 
mysterious  birth. — EDITOR. 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  217 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

THE    PLUM-STONE    GAME — HOW    IT    IS    PLAYED MANNER    OP     COUNTING THB 

DICE— HOW  THEY  ARE  MADE — SHAKING  THEM  UP — A  PAIR  OP  OLD  GRUM 
BLERS — DEAD  BROKE — STORY  TELLING— GEORGE  WASHINGTON — THE  MIS 
SIONARY  AND  HIS  BOOKS — INTELLIGENCE  OF  THE  INDIANS — THEIR  LOVE  OP 

READING HOW  THEY  IMPART  INFORMATION    TO    EACH    OTHER — FAMILIARITY 

WITH  THE  CHARACTER  OF  WASHINGTON — THE  CAUSE — PREPARATIONS  FOB 
THE  OLD  MAN'S  STORY. 

THE  day  was  very  warm,  and  I  had  been  lying  down  in  ray 
teepee,  sleeping  most  of  the  time,  for  want  of  something 
to  do,  or  for  lack  of  energy  to  do  any  thing,  if  I  had  it  to  do. 
I  had  seen  but  few  of  the  Indians  out  of  their  teepees  that  day, 
and,  though  the  squaws  worked  incessantly  in  warm  as  well  as 
cold  weather,  their  liege  lords  and  masters  took  the  warm 
weather  to  be  too  much  for  even  their  warm  natures ;  so  they 
stretched  themselves  out  on  the  grass-rush  mats  of  their  teepee 
floors,  and  went  to  sleep  till  eating  time  should  come  round 
again  (which  meant  whenever  they  got  hungry),  and  were  com 
pelled  to  undergo  the  cruel  exertion  of  raising  themselves  to  a 
sitting  posture,  and  be  waited  upon  by  their  squaws,  who 
handed  each  one  a  wooden  bowl  of  boiled  meat  and  corn.  No 
coffee  or  tea  was  used,  nothing  but  the  beverage  provided  by 
nature,  cold  water,  and  at  that  season  the  water  was  not  very 
cold,  as  it  was  procured  from  the  Missouri  River. 

I  had  been  awakened  by  a  jabbering  outside  my  teepee  door, 


218  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

and,  raising  the  bottom  of  the  teepee  cloth,  I  saw  five  men,  and 
some  two  or  three  squaws,  seated  under  my  shade  (some  forks 
stuck  up  in  front  of  the  teepee  door,  over  which  was  laid  a 
quantity  of  green  willow  brush  to  answer  the  wants  of  a  porch), 
busily  engaged  in  gambling  for  silver  earrings  and  bead  neck 
laces  with  plum-stone  dice.  I  lay  still  and  watched  them  for 
a  little  while,  when,  finding  sleep  impossible,  and  not  wishing 
to  affront  the  company  by  ordering  them  to  keep  quiet,  I  got 
up  and  crawled  out  to  where  they  were,  and,  declining  to  ac 
cept  their  invitation  to  join  the  game,  contented  myself  in 
quietly  watching  and  learning  it. 

They  used  a  kind  of  dice  made  of  the  stones  of  the  wild 
plum,  which  grew  very  plentifully  in  the  deep  ravines  and 
canons  a  mile  or  two  back  from  the  Missouri  River  at  this 
point.  These  stones  were  first  dried  hard,  then  polished  by 
scraping  them  with  a  knife.  Six  were  used  for  the  game,  four 
of  them  being  spotted  on  one  side,  and  blank  on  the  opposite, 
and  the  other  two  striped  or  checked  on  one  side,  and  left  blank 
on  the  other.  These  spots  and  stripes  were  made  on  the  stones 
by  means  of  a  small  iron  instrument  which  they  used  to  paint 
buffalo  robes  with.  The  iron  was  heated,  and  the  spots  and 
stripes  then  seared  or  burned  in  the  stone.  The  Indians  used 
a  wooden  bowl,  small  and  light,  for  shaking  the  dice,  and  never 
threw  them  out  of  the  bowl.  To  play  the  game,  they  sat  on 
the  ground  in  a  circle,  and  a  blanket,  or  robe,  was  doubled  up 
and  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  ring — the  bowl  containing  six 
dice,  being  placed  on  the  folded  blanket.  The  stakes  usually 
were  two  or  four  silver  earrings,  put  up  by  those  who  engaged 
in  the  game,  and  the  sport  commenced  by  some  one  of  the 
players  seizing  the  edge  of  the  bowl  with  his  thumb  outside, 
and  the  ends  of  his  forefingers  inside  the  rim,  and,  raising  it  an 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  219 

inch  or  so,  bumped  it  down  on  the  folded  blanket  three  or  four 
times,  causing  the  light  plum-stones  to  jump  around  in  the 
most  lively  manner.  After  the  player  had  shaken  the  bowl 
thoroughly,  he  sat  down  and  allowed  the  stones  to  settle  on  the 
bottom,  and  then  they  were  counted,  thus :  if  all  the  spotted 
and  striped  sides  were  uppermost,  the  player  won,  unless  some 
one  else  tied  him.  If  he  threw  four  spotted  ones,  it  was  the 
same  as  four  aces  in  cards,  in  the  game  of  bluff;  but  if  he 
threw  three  spotted  and  two  striped  ones,  it  was  equivalent  to 
a  full  hand  of  bluff,  and  so  on,  the  only  difference  being,  that 
when  all  the  spotted  and  striped  sides  were  turned  up,  it 
showed  a  higher  hand  than  four  aces,  and  when  all  the  blank 
sides  were  turned  up  it  showed  a  flush  that  ranked  next  to  the 
highest  hand,  and  above  the  four  aces. 

During  the  game  there  was  considerable  quarreling  between 
a  couple  of  old  men,  who  were  proverbial  throughout  the  vil 
lage  for  their  cross,  crabbed  natures,  but,  aside  from  using  their 
tongues  very  freely  in  ridiculing  and  maligning  each  other, 
nothing  more  serious  occurred.  Each  repeatedly  referred  to 
me  as  a  responsible  arbitrator  in  the  cause  at  dispute,  but  I 
pleaded  utter  ignorance  of  the  game,  and,  therefore,  inability 
of  judging.  For  this,  I  did  not  fail  to  get  my  share  of  their 
abuse,  for  having  lived  so  long  among  as  respectable  a  tribe  as 
the  Santee  Sioux,  and  not  knowing  the  celebrated  plum-stone 
game.  I  took  all  their  abuse  good-naturedly,  as  I  knew  no 
one  in  the  village  ever  minded  any  thing  these  two  old  boobies 
said.  While  they  played  dice,  the  squaws  sat  by  smoking  and 
laughing  at  each  one's  losses.  Presently,  all  but  one  were 
dead  broke ;  the  game  stopped,  and,  good  nature  being  once 
more  restored,  all  joined  in  a  smoke.  As  the  day  advanced, 
and  evening  came  on,  the  atmosphere  became  more  endurable, 


220  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

and  conversation  became  lively.  One  of  the  young  men 
asked  me  to  tell  a  story,  and  all  joined  in  the  request,  urging 
so  hard,  that  I  agreed  to  do  so,  provided  one  of  the  old  men 
would,  in  return,  favor  us  by  telling  some  old  story  of  the  San- 
tees  who  had  lived  before  the  present  generation.  I  knew  the 
old  men  in  almost  every  tribe  were  full  of  such  stories,  and 
they  were  always  agreeable.  I  inquired  what  I  should  tell 
them,  whether  of  some  other  Indian  tribe,  or  of  the  white 
people  ?  "  Of  the  whites, "  they  all  at  once  replied.  My 
supper  was  now  ready,  and,  inviting  those  present  to  join  with 
me  in  eating  a  limited  number  of  dishes,  I  ordered  served  some 
coffee,  dried  elk  meat  and  corn,  boiled  together,  for  which  I  had 
to  thank  the  good  missionary  of  the  tribe.  The  invitation  was 
accepted  by  all,  and  supper  was  brought  outside  the  teepee 
where  we  were  sitting.  After  the  meal  was  finished,  and 
another  smoke  indulged  in,  one  of  the  young  men  said,  "Now 
for  the  story. "  I  seated  myself,  and,  in  as  concise  a  manner  as 
possible,  related  to  my  auditors  the  history  of  the  discovery 
of  America;  the  sailing  of  Columbus;  his  trials  and  reverses; 
his  landing  in  triumph ;  his  meeting  with  the  first  Indians  on 
the  Atlantic  coast,  and  the  growth  of  the  present  nation ;  wind 
ing  up  with  a  description  of  "Washington,  his  battles,  and  the 
success  of  the  struggle  for  independence.  When  I  had  con 
cluded,  I  read  the  interest  betrayed  in  my  narrative  by  the 
upturned  faces  of  my  audience,  which  had  augmented  in  num 
bers  to  some  fifteen  or  twenty  persons,  and  among  whom  was 
the  old  medicine  man  of  the  tribe.  The  pompous  old  fool,  to 
show  his  wisdom,  said,  as  soon  as  I  had  done,  "Me  know 
him,  Washi'ton ;  me  see  him,  Washi'ton,  heap  o7  times.  Him 
good  man,  Washi'ton.  No  tell  um  lie.  One  little  lie  no  tell 
urn  I"  All  acquiesced  in  this  statement,  and  "How'd"  in  an 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  221 

assenting  manner  at  the  end  of  each  sentence.  I  then  told 
them  of  Washington's  boyhood;  the  old  story  of  the  apple 
tree ;  the  heroic  truthfulness  of  the  young  first  President,  and 
his  father's  pride  in  his  honest  boy.  To  all  this  the  Indians 
repeatedly  assented,  by  saying,  "  How  ! "  as  if  they  all  knew 
of  the  circumstances  quite  as  well  as  I  did.  I  soon  found, 
however,  a  solution  of  this  enigma,  by  learning  from  the  mis 
sionary  that  he  had  brought  several  Sabbath-school  books  up 
with  him,  among  them  a  condensed  history  of  George  Wash 
ington.  He  occasionally  loaned  these  books  to  such  as  took 
care  of  them,  and  he  said  that  several  San  tees  could  speak, 
read,  and  write  English  in  a  very  good  manner.  To  these 
persons  he  loaned  books,  and  the  contents  were,  very  nat 
urally,  told  to  the  balance  of  the  tribe  by  the  fortunate  readers. 
They  always  listened  with  avidity  to  the  tales  of  the  readers. 
When  I  had  finished  my  story,  night  had  fallen  over  us,  and 
the  stars  were  coming  out,  one  by  one,  illuminating  the  sky 
with  their  tiny  spangles  of  diamonds.  A  large  circle  of  dusky, 
quiet,  red  men  were  seated  in  front  of  my  lodge,  waiting  to 
catch  the  words  of  the  old  man,  who  was  about  to  begin  his 
story.  It  was  an  expectant  crowd,  and  every  noise  was  hushed 
save  the  soughing  of  the  night  winds  among  the  tops  of  the 
stately  cottonwoods  that  overshadowed  our  camp.  The  quick 
rush  of  the  Missouri  broke  with  a  hollow  sound  on  the  shore, 
as  it  sped  toward  the  south  to  meet  the  Mississippi,  and  bear 
up  the  great  white  trafficking  ships  of  the  white  men.  .  Here, 
far  away  from  the  haunts  of  civilization,  the  river's  waters 
were  as  clear  as  crystal,  and  no  noise  or  bustle  disturbed  the 
calm  and  tranquil  scene. 


222  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTER   XXXI. 

THE  OLD  MAN'S  STORY — HIS  GRANDFATHER'S  TALE — EARLY  HISTORY  OF  THE 
SIOUX  NATION — THEIR  POWER  AND  GLORY — FIRST  VISIT  OF  THE  WHITE 
MAN — HIS  GUN  DESCRIBED — ASTONISHMENT  OF  THE  INDIANS  AT  ITS  POWER — 

THE     COUNCIL — THE     WHITE     MAN     ALLOWED     TO      REMAIN THE     BUFFALO 

HUNT — HOW  THE  WHITE  MAN  KILLED  GAME — ALARM  OF  THE  BUFFALO  AT 
THE  NOISE  OF  HIS  GUN — THE  BUFFALO  ALL  RUN  AWAY — ANOTHER  COUNCIL — 
THE  WHITE  MAN  SENTENCED  TO  DEATH — DEATH  OF  THE  SQUAW — DEATH  OF 

THE   WHITE   MAN — HIS    PREDICTION — DIVISION   OF   THE   TRIBE WHERE   THE 

BANDS  WENT — THE  BRULE,  OGALLALLA,   SANTEE,  AND  YANKTON  SIOUX. 

HHHE  fire  had  gone  out,  and  the  ashes  were  knocked  from 
-*-  the  bowl ;  leaving  the  sacred  pipe  lying  upon  his  blanket, 
which  he  had  folded  and  laid  upon  the  ground,  the  old,  gray- 
headed  warrior  got  upon  his  feet,  in  the  center  of  the  circle, 
and  began  his  story.  I  managed  to  get  as  near  to  him  as 
possible,  in  order  that  I  might  not  lose  a  word  of  what  he 
said.  The  old  man  seemed  to  feel  sorrowful,  as  he  looked  at 
the  ground  near  his  feet  for  a  few  moments,  evidently  trying 
to  recall  to  memory  events  of  many  years  gone  by.  Then, 
raising  his  head,  and  looking  around  upon  his  hearers,  he 
spoke : 

"  Many  years  ago,  many  moons,  many  winter's  snows,  and 
summer's  grasses  have  come  and  gone,  and  many  a  Santee 
warrior  has  come  into  the  world,  and,  after  a  brilliant  and 
noble  life,  left  it  again.  Many  a  parent  and  child  have  been 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  223 

carried  to  the  grave,  since  the  men  lived  of  whom  my  father's 
lather  told  me  when  I  was  a  boy,  and  of  whom  I  will  now 
tell  you.  You  see  my  hair  is  gray,  but  it  was  not  so  when 
my  father's  father  told  me  this  story,  of  things  that  happened 
when  he  was  young.  In  those  days  the  Sioux  all  lived  to 
gether,  and  were  a  large  and  powerful  tribe.  They  were  then 
one  nation  of  brave  warriors,  feared  by  all  the  tribes,  who 
sought  their  favor,  and  neglected  no  opportunity  to  cement  a 
friendship  with  the  most  powerful  band,  that  owned  hunting- 
grounds  for  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  miles  in  every  direction. 
No  tribe  ever  dared  to  insult  or  provoke  them  to  battle;  no 
other  tribe  dared  to  trespass  on  their  hunting-grounds;  no 
other  tribe  ever  owned  such  beautiful  and  accomplished  women, 
such  upright  and  brave  warriors,  as  the  Dakotas.  They  were 
rich  in  ponies  and  silver  earrings,  their  herds  covered  the 
valleys  of  the  great  rivers,  their  teepees  were  as  white  and 
numerous  as  the  snow-flakes  in  winter,  and  every  stream  and 
grove  was  peopled  by  them.  If  any  other  tribe  had  occasion 
to  go  to  war  with  their  neighbors,  they  first  courted  the  coun 
tenance  and  favor  of  the  Dakotas,  and,  if  they  obtained  it, 
they  were  sure  of  winning  a  victory,  sometimes  without  any 
apparent  resistance  from  their  enemies,  who  had  been  informed 
that  the  Dakotas  favored  the  other  side.  Times  then  were  not 
as  they  now  are.  When  a  foreign  chief's  embassy  called  upon 
the  Dakotas,  to  ask  for  permission  to  fight  on  their  grounds, 
or  to  ask  for  assistance  in  the  battle  they  premeditated,  their 
speeches  were  heard  by  upright  and  honest  men,  who  would 
never  recognize  a  war  for  plunder  or  gain,  and  who  never 
refused  assistance  to  the  injured  or  oppressed  of  other  nations. 
Thus  they  were  loved,  feared,  and  respected  by  all,  and  the 
decision  of  the  Sioux  chiefs,  in  every  case,  was  irrevocable  law. 


224  BELDEN  :   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

So  there  was  but  little  war,  and  year  after  year  the  tribes  in 
creased  in  numbers,  and  the  warriors  lived  to  great  old  age. 
and  died,  some  over  a  hundred  years  old.  Time  went  on,  and 
one  day  a  stranger  was  brought  into  the  village,  whose  face  was 
white,  his  hair  brown,  and  his  eyes  the  color  of  his  hair.  This 
man's  whole  body  was  white,  and  he  could  not  understand  us 
when  we  spoke  to  him,  nor  could  we  understand  him,  though 
he  talked  and  made  a  noise  with  his  mouth,  and  sometimes 
laughed.  He  had  been  found  on  the  high  prairies,  walking 
alone,  and  had  a  bow  without  any  strings  to  it,  and  the  arrows 
he  used  were  very  little,  but  heavy  and  round.  He  fired  off 
his  bow,  and  it  so  frightened  our  people  that  several  squaws 
dropped  to  the  earth,  stunned  by  the  noise  which  the  arrow 
made  in  the  air.  This  bow  would  shoot  one  of  the  little 
arrows  many  steps  distant,  and  send  it  through  the  stoutest 
shields  of  buffalo  hide  that  our  warriors  owned.  The  white 
warrior  could  also  shoot  very  straight,  and  never  missed  what 
he  aimed  at.  So,  many  of  our  people  revered  this  white  man, 
who  they  believed  had  been  sent  to  show  them  how  to  make 
and  shoot  with  the  strange  bows  that  made  a  noise.  Some, 
however,  said  he  was  a  bad  man,  and  used  the  Great  Spirit's 
thunder  in  his  bow,  that  he  had  no  right  to  do  so,  and  if  the 
man  was  to  be  allowed  to  live  in  the  village  among  our  people, 
we  would  be  visited  by  great  calamities.  These  were  for  im 
mediately  driving  him  away  from  our  teepees,  and  not  allow 
ing  him  to  return.  The  council-house  drum  was  beaten,  and 
the  chiefs  called  to  deliberate  the  question  whether  we  would 
keep  the  white  man  or  send  him  away.  After  a  whole  day 
and  night's  consultation,  it  was  decided  that  the  man  should 
stay  in  the  village,  and  so  it  was.  He  had  been  called  in  dur 
ing  the  council,  and  laid  his  bow  down  on  the  ground,  when  it 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  225 

was  with  great  fear  and  reluctance  taken  up  and  examined  by 
one  of  the  boldest  of  the  warriors,  who  said  it  was  made  of 
iron,  and  was  very  heavy,  and  not  a  bow,  but  a  hollow  rod. 
The  chief  then  motioned  to  the  man  to  fix  it  ready  to  fire,  but 
not  to  fire  it.  He  did  so,  and  all  saw,  what  they  had  not  be 
fore  observed,  that  the  white  warrior  first  put  some  black, 
shining  sand  in  the  iron,  and  then  put  a  little  iron  ball  in  the 
end  of  the  rod,  which  l^e  forced  down  with  a  long  stick.  This 
stick  he  drew  out  of  a  case  under  the  hollow  iron,  and  put  one 
end  of  it  on  the  ball  and  then  pressed  with  all  his  might  on 
the  other,  until  the  ball  was  pushed  to  the  lower  end  of  the 
hollow.  Next  he  withdrew  the  stick,  and  put  it  back  in  the 
case,  and  then  he  took  up  the  iron  and  put  some  of  the  black 
sand  in  a  little  cup  on  the  side  of  it,  and  covered  up  the  sand 
with  a  flat,  crooked  piece,  which  was  fast  to  the  iron.  Just 
behind  this  crooked  iron  was  another  one,  in  which  was  fast 
ened  a  flat  piece  of  stone,  which  was  made  to  strike  fire  when 
the  man  pulled  on  a  little  wire  under  the  hollow  iron.  When 
ever  this  stone  made  fire,  the  same  noise  was  heard,  and  fire 
and  smoke  came  out  of  the  end  of  the  iron.  None  could  see 
the  little  iron  ball  as  it  went  to  the  mark,  and  some  who 
watched,  said  that  the  ball  struck  the  tree  before  the  fire  came 
out  of  the  iron. 

"  So  the  man  stayed  and  was  given  a  teepee,  and  he  soon  mar 
ried  a  squaw,  and  was  suffered  to  live  with  us  for  several  moons, 
until  the  hunting  moons  came,  when  the  tribes  were  to  go  out 
to  kill  and  dry  their  winter's  meat.  The  buffalo  ranged  all 
around,  near  at  hand,  and  every  season  yielded  the  necessary 
amount  of  food  for  the  great  tribe  on  whose  hunting-grounds 
the  buffalo  could  not  be  counted,  so  great  was  their  number. 

A  day's  journey  from  the  village  always  took  our  people  into 

20 


226  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

the  midst  of  the  buffalo  country,  and,  pitching  their1  teepees, 
men  and  women  set  to  work,  and  in  a  few  days7  time  had  pre 
pared  sufficient  fat  and  buffalo  to  last  them  until  the  next 
season  came. 

"  The  hunting  moon  was  now  at  hand,  and  all  the  village 
was  active,  preparing  to  go  out  upon  the  hunt.  Among  others 
was  the  white  man,  with  his  hollow  iron.  He  had  learned  to 
talk  our  language,  and  could  now  speak  and  understand  every 
thing.  He  was  also  well  liked  by  nearly  every  one,  and  was 
especially  a  favorite  with  the  young  women,  who  constantly 
envied  the  white  man's  squaw  her  position.  Some  of  those  who 
had  predicted  calamities  if  the  white  man  was  permitted  to  live 
among  them,  though  they  never  abused  him,  never  had  any 
thing  to  do  with  him,  but  held  themselves  aloof  and  kept  their 
peace,  though  they  did  not  like  him. 

"  So  all  went  to  the  hunting-grounds,  and  there  it  was  ob 
served  that  the  white  man's  hollow  iron  would  bring  down  a 
buffalo  at  the  distance  of  two  arrow  flights,  twice  as  far  off  as 
the  best  warrior  of  the  tribe  could  shoot  an  arrow,  and  where 
sometimes  it  took  a  dozen  arrows  to  kill  a  buffalo,  the  white  man 
always  shot  but  once  and  killed  him  dead  in  his  tracks.  In 
two  days'  time  a  sufficient  number  of  buffalo  had  been  killed  to 
last  the  tribe  the  season,  and  many  of  our  people  now  thought 
the  white  man  and  his  hollow  iron  were  gifts  from  the  Great 
Spirit,  sent  to  make  them  more  powerful  as  a  tribe,  and  render 
them  invincible  in  war  against  other  nations. 

"  All  4he  following  year  the  white  man  lived  with  the 
Dakotas,  but  when  the  buffalo  season  came  again,  and  the  tribe 
made  preparations  to  go  out  upon  the  annual  hunt,  the  parties 
of  warriors  who  had  always  been  sent  out  in  advance  a  day  or 
two,  to  see  where  the  buffalo  cows  were  feeding  (because  they 


BELDEN  :    THE    WHITE   CHIEF.  227 

are  better  and  more  tender  meat  than  the  bulls),  came  back  and 
brought  tidings  that,  no  buffalo  could  be  found.  When  this 
was  made  known  in  the  village,  the  warriors  were  derided  and 
scoffed  at,  as  being  lazy,  good-for-nothing  fellows,  who  had  not 
taken  the  trouble  to  go  far  enough,  and  they  were  sent  back 
again  by  the  chief,  together  with  several  other  young  men. 
After  several  days'  absence,  they  returned,  and  brought  back 
the  same  intelligence.  Great  was  now  the  consternation  in  the 
village,  and  starvation  stared  all  in  the  face.  It  was  remem 
bered,  that  when  the  wnite  man  had  shot  his  hollow  iron,  the 
buffalo  jumped  and  bounded  with  surprise  and  fear  at  the 
thunder  of  the  noise,  and  immediately  ran  away.  But  a  short 
time  was  necessary  to  convince  every  one  that  the  white  man's 
hollow  iron  had  driven  off  all  the  buffalo,  which  had  always 
before  been  easily  found.  Now,  also,  were  the  predictions  of 
calamity  remembered,  and  the  council  was  again  called.  While 
the  chiefs  were  debating  in  the  council- house,  the  warriors  and 
women  of  the  tribe  rent  the  air  with  their  lamentations,  so  that 
their  shrieks  reached  the  ears  of  the  chiefs  in  the  council-house, 
and  urged  them  to  prompt  action.  It  was  determined  that 
the  white  man  was  an  evil  spirit,  who  had  used  the  Great 
Spirit's  thunder  to  scare  away  the  buffalo.  All  knew  they  did 
not  fear  a  mounted  warrior  of  the  Dakotas,  but  turned  and 
fought  with  hoof  and  horn,  while  arrows  in  great  numbers 
pierced  their  sides,  but  when  the  white  man  fired  his  gun  they 
made  off.  It  was,  therefore,  solemnly  declared,  that  the  Great 
Spirit  was  offended  at  the  killing  of  buffalo  with  stolen  thunder, 
and  the  council  decided  that  the  white  man's  blood  should  be 
offered  up  as  an  atonement  for  the  sin  of  the  tribe  in  eating 
the  meat  which  had  been  killed  by  the  hollow  iron. 

"  The  white  man  sat  in  his  lodge  apparently  unconscious  of 


228  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

what  was  going  on  without,  until  he  heard  voices  crying, 
f  White  man !  White  man !  come  out ! '  He  then  got  up,  and 
came  to  the  door,  when,  as  soon  as  he  was  observed,  a  dozen 
arrows  were  fired  at  him.  Just  as  the  bows  were  bent  to 
send  the  arrows  again,  the  white  man's  squaw,  '  An-pe-tu- 
Sa-pa-U-we-a'  (black  day  woman),  threw  herself  before  him, 
and  fell  pierced  by  a  dozen  shafts.  The  white  man  ran  inside 
the  teepee,  got  his  hollow  iron,  and  coming  back  to  the  door, 
shot  at  the  medicine  man,  who  stood  way  off  by  the  council- 
house,  and  he  immediately  fell  dead,  not  even  uttering  a  single 
word.  The  white  man  then  pushed  down  another  ball,  and 
called  out  to  the  warriors,  '  Go  away !  or  I  will  have  to  kill  you 
all !  Go  away ! '  Most  of  the  warriors  went  away,  and  pres 
ently  the  white  man  came  outside,  carrying  the  hollow  iron  in 
his  hand.  His  face  was  white  as  snow,  and  he  said  he  was 
very  angry.  He  took  up  the  body  of  the  dead  squaw,  and 
putting  her  face  close  to  his,  held  it  there  several  moments, 
then  placing  her  body  on  his  shoulder,  he  started  toward  the 
river  bank.  He  walked  fast,  occasionally  turning  around  to 
see  if  any  one  followed  him.  When  he  had  gone  some  distance, 
no  one  thinking  of  running  to  certain  death  by  following  him, 
the  leader  of  those  who  had  predicted  evil  from  the  white  man, 
raised  his  voice  and  demanded  his  death.  '  Do  you  not  see  him 
going  off?  He  has  killed  the  old  medicine  man !  He  is 
carrying  off  one  of  our  women !  Why  do  you  stand  staring 
at  him  ?  after  him,  all  of  you  !  Kill  him ! '  he  cried.  '  Yes, 
kill  him ! '  all  shouted,  as  they  ran  after  the  white  man,  who 
saw  them  coming,  and  made  every  effort  to  gain  the  water'? 
edge,  where  he  had  a  canoe  hidden  in  the  willows,  and  in 
which  he  hoped  to  escape,  if  he  could  but  reach  it  unharmed. 
His  pursuers,  however,  were  too  numerous  and  swift.  They 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  229 

were  not  loaded  down  with  a  burden  as  lie  was,  and  so  ran 
faster.  Soon  they  neared  him,  when  he  gently  laid  the  squaw 
on  the  grass,  and  raising  his  hollow  iron,  pointed  it  at  the 
crowd.  He  held  the  iron  aimed,  but  did  not  fire.  Many  ran 
away,  and  all  stopped  and  stood  looking  at  him,  when  he  said : 
'Why  do  you  follow  me?  Have  I  stolen  your  ponies,  or 
taken  any  thing  from  you,  that  you  should  seek  my  life?' 
'Yes,  you  are  a  thief,  though  you  never  stole  from  us,'  an 
swered  the  chief,  who  disliked  him,  '  you  have  not  stolen  from 
us,  but  you  have  stolen  from  the  Great  Spirit,  and  for  this  you 
must  die  ! '  '  What  is  it  I  have  stolen  from  the  Great  Spirit  ?  ' 
inquired  the  white  man.  '  You  have  stolen  his  thunder,  and 
used  it  to  scare  away  our  game/  replied  the  chief.  The  white 
man  laughed,  but  suddenly  becoming  serious,  said,  '  You  are 
all  a  pack  of  fools,  and  I  swear  by  the  Great  Spirit,  that  I  have 
never  done  what  you  accuse  me  of.  Do  you  see  this  poor  girl  ? 
She  was  of  your  people,  and  I  loved  her  with  all  my  heart,  yet 
you  have  killed  her.  For  this,  the  Great  Spirit  will  one  day 
thin  your  tribe;  he  will  punish  you  with  diseases,  hunger,  and 
degradation.  Your  tribe  will  decline  in  glory  day  by  day,  and 
my  people  will  take  away  your  hunting-grounds,  and  drive  your 
game  beyond  the  setting  sun ;  then  you  will  be  poor  in  num 
bers,  and  weak-hearted.  Now,  let  me  go  back  to  my  people, 
and  before  I  go,  let  me  bury  the  poor  girl,  who  has  given  up 
her  life  for  me,  and  when  I  have  done  it,  I  will  leave  you,  and 
never  come  near  you  any  more.'  When  he  had  spoken,,  the 
chief  urged  the  warriors  to  shoot  together,  and  fill  him  with 
arrows ;  at  the  same  time  declaring  his  words  were  lies,  in 
tended  to  frighten  them  from  doing  their  duty.  JSTo  one  obeyed 
him,  and  the  chief,  becoming  angry,  snatched  a  bow  and  arrow 
from  the  nearest  warrior,  saying,  '  I  will  kill  him ! '  and  im- 
14 


230  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

mediately  placed  an  arrow  upon  the  bow-string,  but  as  he  sought 
to  bend  it,  a  loud  noise  came  from  the  hollow  iron,  and  the 
bow  dropped  from  his  hands,  the  chief  fell  forward  on  his  face, 
and  died  without  uttering  so  much  as  a  groan.  In  an  instant 
twenty  arrows  were  shot  at  the  white  man,  and  several  of  them 
struck  him,  and  stuck  in  his  flesh.  But  he  did  not  mind  them, 
and,  stooping,  picked  up  the  dead  girl,  and  ran  toward  the 
river.  He  soon  disappeared  from  sight  under  the  bank,  and 
in  a  few  minutes  more  was  seen  jumping  from  stone  to  stone, 
at  the  very  edge  of  the  great  falls.  He  had  dropped  the  hollow 
iron  over  the  falls,  and  now  carried  the  dead  girl  in-  his  arms. 
He  leaped  along  until  he  suddenly  came  to  a  wide  gorge,  over 
which  the  water  had  washed  for  many  centuries,  wearing  a 
passage  in  the  solid  rocks.  Could  he  but  once  get  upon  the 
other  side  of  this  gorge,  the  white  man  knew  he  would  be  out 
of  reach  of  the  arrows  of  his  pursuers.  He  looked  first  at  the 
water,  then  at  the  angry  crowd  on  the  shore,  and  holding  up 
the  body  of  the  dead  girl,  cried  out,  '  You  see  her?  She  and 
I  will  come  to  see  you  again,  and  you  will  know  us,  when 
your  spirit  is  broken,  and  your  hearts  fail  you  under  great 
oppression.  Then  disease  and  death  will  appall  you,  and  you 
will  die.'  So  saying,  he  threw  the  girl  in  the  river,  and  im 
mediately  jumped  in  after  her.  For  a  few  moments  he  was 
seen  to  struggle,  and  then  floated  down  and  passed  over  the 
falls.  The  Indians  searched  for  the  bodies,  but  they  never 
were  found. 

"  After  this,  the  tribe  sent  out  runners  in  every  direction  to 
see  if  they  could  find  game,  but  all  were  unsuccessful.  All  in 
the  village  were  in  a  starving  condition,  when  an  old  chief, 
assembling  his  band,  started  in  search  of  new  hunting-grounds, 
saying,  if  he  found  game  he  would  send  back  word  to  the  rest, 


BELDEN:    THE    WHITE   CHIEF.  231 


4 


and  they  might  come  and  join  him.  Accordingly,  he  left  the 
village  with  his  party  and  traveled  to  the  westward,  toward 
(he  mountains.  For  many  days  no  tidings  reached  the  vil 
lage  of  the  chief  and  his  party,  and  the  small  game  and  corfi 
beginning  to  give  out,  it  was  determined  to  send  another  party 
to  find  the  firrt.  This  was  done,  and  the  village  rested,  until  the 
time  came  when  the  last  party  should  return,  or  send  tidings 
of  their  success.  Days  and  weeks  passed,  and  as  no  messenger 
reached  the  village,  all  began  to  mourn  the  absent  as  lost. 

"  The  tribe  at  length  moved  farther  west  to  the  great  river, 
and  here,  finding  game,  built  a  village  and  remained. 

"  A  year  passed,  and  there  were  still  no  tidings  of  the  two  lost 
bands.  At  the  end  of  another  year,  fears  of  starvation  having 
subsided,  and  prosperity  being  restored  in  the  village,  it  was 
determined  to  send  out  a  third  party  to  try,  if  possible,  and 
obtain  tidings  of  the  absent  bands.  They  were  accordingly 
sent,  and  returned  at  the  end  of  half  a  year,  with  the  intelli 
gence,  that  they  could  not  find  or  even  hear  of  them. 

"  For  many  years  the  tribe  lived  along  the  river,  hunting  and 
warring  with  other  nations,  who  were  angry,  because  the  Sioux 
had  come  to  their  country  to  live,  without  so  much  as  asking 
their  permission.  The  small-pox  broke  out  in  the  tribe,  and 
carried  off  many  of  the  people.  Then,  it  had  hardly  left 
them,  before  the  warriors  quarreled  among  themselves  upon  the 
subject  of  moving  to  the  mountains,  and  the  tribe  dividing, 
half  of  them  went  to  the  mountains,  and  the  other  half 
remained. 

"  So  the  white  man's  prediction  came  true ;  disease,  quarrels, 
and  starvation  had  split  and  divided  the  nation,  until  its  num 
bers  and  strength  were  so  reduced,  the  warriors  had  no  heart  to 
go  to  war. 


232  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE 

"  After  many  years,  the  tribe  was  visited  by  many  white  men, 
who  all  came  armed  with  hollow  irons,  killed  our  people,  and 
drove  away  our  game.  From  them  we  learned  to  use  the  hollow 
iron,  and  our  young  men  traded  for  some  to  hunt  with,  as  well 
as  to  use  in  war.  But  since  the  day  the  white  man  was  drowned, 
the  tribe  has  slowly  been  decreasing  in  power  and  glory,  until 
now,  it  is  but  the  wreck  of  what  it  once  was. 

"  The  lost  tribes  were,  after  a  Jong  time,  heard  from ;  they  had 
learned  to  speak  another  language,  and  though  we  could  under 
stand  them,  yet  our  languages  were  very  different. 

"  The  first  party,  after  leaving  the  village,  had  gone  toward 
the  setting  sun,  and  meeting  with  no  considerable  quantities  of 
game,  had  traveled  on  until  they  came  to  the  mountains ;  they 
learned  from  a  tribe  they  found  there,  that  on  the  west  side  they 
would  find  plenty  of  game,  and  accordingly  they  started  to  cross 
the  chain.  The  women  and  children  could  not  travel  very  fast, 
and  by  the  time  they  reached  the  middle  of  the  mountains,  they 
found  so  much  time  had  been  consumed  on  the  road  that  their 
provisions  would  soon  run  out.  They  pushed  along,  however, 
through  snow  and  ice,  and  at  length  their  eyes  were  gladdened 
by  coming  upon  a  deep-seated,  green,  and  fertile  plain,  where 
streams  meandered  through  pleasant  vales,  and  where  the  deer 
and  elk  were  in  numerous  herds.  Here  they  pitched  their  vil 
lage,  and  lived  for  a  long  time,  none  being  so  hardy  as  to  feel 
inclined  to  risk  finding  their  way  back  through  the  mountains. 
So  the  tribe  grew  up,  and,  in  course  of  time,  began  imper 
ceptibly  to  make  changes  in  the  language  they  spoke. 

"  The  second  band  traveled  toward  the  mountains,  but  did  not 
attempt  to  cross  them,  having  kept  to  the  southward  along 
their  foot,  until  they  came  to  a  broad  stream,  very  shallow, 
and  full  of  treacherous  sands,  and  they  saw  great  herds  of 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  233 

buffalo  feeding  upon  its  banks.  Here  the  tribe  stopped,  and, 
as  the  first  party  had  done,  built  a  village,  and  finding  every 
thing  conducive  to  their  comfort,  contented  themselves  to  live 
in  peace,  and  the  band  was  raised  from  the  small  numbers  to 
a  great  multitude. 

"  Their  language  was  also  changed  in  the  course  of  time,  and 
was  different  from  either  the  original  tongue,  or  that  spoken 
by  the  band  which  had  gone  across  the  mountains. 

"The  half  of  the  tribe  which  had  moved  to  the  mountains, 
after  the  small-pox  had  decimated  the  village,  were  also  com 
pelled  to  change  their  language. 

"  All  these  bands,  though  once  strong,  powerful  tribes,  through 
division  and  contentions,  disease,  and  the  white  man's  poisons, 
have  become  suddenly  weak,  and  are  constantly  at  war  to 
defend  themselves,  or  gain  sufficient  ground  upon  which  to 
live  and  hunt. 

11  Thus  the  white  man's  prediction  has  been  fulfilled,  and  hun 
ger  and  disease  have  made  us  weak  as  women.  We  have  often 
looked  to  see  if  the  white  man  and  the  dead  girl  were  beside 
us.  but  though  we  have  never  seen  them,  we  have  seen  the  effects 
of  what  he  of  the  hollow  iron,  prophesied.  We  murdered  a 
woman  of  our  own  race,  and  then  murdered  him  who  came  to 
aid  us ;  so  none  of  his  people,  who  have  come  among  us  since, 
have  been  kind,  but  all  are  angry,  and  avenge  his  death. 

"  This  was  my  father's  father's  story,  as  he  told  it  to  me,  and 
when  he  had  done  telling  it,  he  cautioned  me  to  try  and  be 
friendly  with  the  white  men,  for  they  were  powerful,  and  could 
do  me  and  my  people  much  harm." 

The  old  man  ended  his  tale,  and  sat  down  for  a  moment, 
with  his  head  between  his  hands;  then  silently  taking  up  his 

pipe  and  blanket,  he  moved  away  toward  his  teepee,  and  the 

21 


234  BELDEN:    THE    WHITE   CHIEF. 

rest  of  his  audience,  one  by  one,  followed  his  example  without 
saying  a  word. 

It  was  very  late,  and  I  went  into  my  lodge,  and  rolling 
myself  in  my  blankets,  lay  down  to  sleep  and  dream  of  the 
four  bands  that  had  become  so  separated  and  divided.  I  followed 
them  over  again,  through  their  superstitions  and  wanderings, 
and  saw  clearly  their  reasons  for  attacking  the  white  man. 
Though  my  sleep  was  not  refreshing,  to  my  delight  I  awoke, 
in  the  morning,  to  find  my  squaw  had  not  been  filled  with 
arrows  on  my  account,  but  had  cooked  a  kettle  of  elk  and 
corn,  upon  which  she  was  regaling  herself,  and  I  soon  joined 
her. 

I  have  since  discovered  that  the  party  which  went  over  the 
mountains,  were  the  Brule  Sioux — those  who  went  to  seek 
them,  and  built  a  village  on  the  Platte  River,  the  Ogallalla 
Sioux — the  band  that  disagreed  and  went  to  the  mountains, 
the  Santee  Sioux,  and  the  other  half  of  the  band,  that  remained 
on  the  river,  the  Yankton  Sioux.  These  four  bands  comprise 
the  four  great  divisions  of  the  Dakota,  or  Sioux  nation,  as  it 
is  now  known. 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  235 


CHAPTER   XXXII. 

INDIAN  PASTIMES — JUGGLERS  AND  MOUNTEBANKS — CURIOSITY  OF  THE  SAVAGES — 
THE  GUN  TRICK — CATCHING  BULLETS — A  DANGEROUS  TRICK — THE  TRIUMPH 
ANT  JUGGLER — A  JUGGLER  OUT-JUGGLED — FIRING  A  GUN  WITH  ASHES — THE 
TRICK  SUCCESSFULLY  PERFORMED — ASTONISHMENT  OF  THE  INDIANS — HOW  IT 
WAS  DONE — THROWING  THE  PONY — A  FAILURE — THE  OWNER  THROWS  THE 
PONY  TO  SHOW  HOW  IT  WAS  DONE — END  OF  AN  INDIAN  SHOW. 

WHILE  in  the  Indian  camp,  I  witnessed   many  strange 
feats  of  strength  and  dexterity  practiced  by  the  young 
warriors,  who,  when  not  engaged  in  the  chase  or  on  the  war 
path,  were  constantly  exercising  their  muscles. 

In  a  large  circle  of  squaws,  children,  and  old  men,  were 
seated  about  twenty  warriors,  witnessing  the  performances  of 
four  young  men.  First,  let  me  tell  you,  that  any  tricks  of  a 
marvelous  nature,  such  as  practiced  by  mountebanks  or  jug 
glers,  are  always  very  attractive  to  Indians,  who  will  sit  for 
hours  quietly,  wondering  how  this  or  that  thing  is  done.  One 
of  the  young  men  presently  took  a  single-barreled  shot-gun,  of 
the  flint-lock  pattern,  and,  pouring  down  powder,  held  .up  a 
bullet,  and,  apparently,  placed  it  in  the  muzzle ;  then,  with  a 
rammer,  pushed  the  ball  down,  as  it  seemed,  to  the  bottom  of 
the  barrel;  he  next  primed  it,  and  gave  it  to  a  bystander,  who 
was  known  to  be  a  good  shot,  and  requested  him  to  shoot  at 
his  breast.  The  warrior  at  first  hesitated,  saying  he  might  kill 


236  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

him,  but,  on  being  urged,  the  man  suddenly  jumped  up,  seized 
the  gun,  and  fired  it  at  the  juggler's  breast.  All  expected  to 
see  him  fall,  but  he  stood  perfectly  still,  as  he  did  before  the 
shot  was  fired,  and  very  coolly  took  the  bullet  out  of  his 
mouth,  saying,  as  he  showed  it  to  all  around  him,  "  You  are  a 
poor'  shot,  my  friend ;  you  see  I  have  caught  it. "  This  feat 
brought  forth  loud  cheers  of  approval  from  his  audience,  much 
to  the  chagrin  of  the  warrior  who  had  failed  to  hit  the  juggler. 
I  said,  "  That  is  well  done ;  but  why  do  you  use  powder  ?  " 
He  inquired,  "Can  you  do  as  I  have  done  without  using 
powder?"  "Of  course,"  I  replied.  He  immediately  handed 
me  the  gun,  and  I  stepped  into  the  ring,  and  gave  it  to  several 
old  men  to  examine,  and  see  if  it  was  loaded.  They  blew 
down  the  barrel,  thoroughly  testing  the  emptiness  of  the  arm. 
While  they  were  examining  it,  I  took  the  opportunity  to  pour 
a  little  powder  into  my  left  hand,  over  which  I  closed  my 
fingers  tightly,  and,  as  the  gun  was  handed  back,  I  seized  it 
by  the  muzzle  with  my  left  hand,  allowing  the  powder  to  run 
down  unperceived,  while,  at  the  same  time,  I  stooped  to  the 
ground,  and  called  their  attention  to  my  right  hand,  with  which, 
having  first  opened  the  fingers,  I  seized  a  handful  of  ashes 
that  laid  on  the  ground  where  an  old  fire  had  gone  out.  I 
then  held  the  ashes  to  the  muzzle,  and  slowly  poured  the  whole 
down  the  barrel.  "  Shoot  that  if  you  can, "  said  the  juggler, 
in  an  exultant  manner.  I  struck  the  gun  several  hard  blows 
near  the  lock,  to  jolt  some  powder  into  the  pan,  and,  raising 
the  hammer,  pulled  the  trigger,  when  a  loud  report  followed, 
throwing  a  cloud  of  ashes  all  around.  The  surprise  of  the 
savages  was  very  great,  and,  bowing,  I  retired  as  a  juggler 
while  my  credit  was  good.  The  juggler  then  performed 
several  very  good  feats  with  bullets,  successfully  shifting  them 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  237 

from  one  to  the  other  of  three  or  four  moccasins  placed  about  a 
foot  apart.  This  was  well  done,  no  one  seeing  how  it  could 
possibly  be  accomplished  without  detection.  Several  young 
men  next  carried  each  other  around  the  circle  by  a  small  belt 
placed  about  the  waist,  and  which  they  seized  with  their  teeth. 
One  powerful  warrior,  who  wore  a  small  belt,  took  a  heavily- 
built  man  in  his  arms,  and  lifted  him  off  the  ground,  holding 
him  thus  while  a  third  Indian  seized  the  belt  in  his  mouth, 
and  carried  both  men  around  the  ring.  This  brought  forth 
loud  applause  from  the  spectators,  and,  indeed,  it  was  merited. 
Presently,  a  little  pony,  stout  and  sturdy,  was  led  into  the  ring, 
and  its  owner  offered  to  give  him  to  any  one  who  would  throw 
him  down  and  hold  him  long  enough  to  put  on  the  bridle. 
This,  I  thought,  was  a  chance  for  me,  and  I  walked  into  the 
ring  to  try  if  I  could  throw  him.  I  tried  hard  several  times, 
but  was  finally  compelled  to  give  it  up  and  retire,  amid  loud 
cheers  and  laughter  from  the  lookers-on.  Two  or  three 
warriors  attempted  to  throw  the  pony,  the  little  fellow  standing 
quiet  all  the  time,  and  never  biting  or  kicking,  as  I  had  at  first 
expected  he  would  do.  The  owner  of  the  animal,  a  light, 
active  Indian,  then  came  forward  and  said  he  would  throw 
him,  and  actually  did  so,  by  seizing  him  by  the  fore  legs,  and 
raising  his  fore  parts  as  high  as  three  feet  from  the  ground, 
then  pulled  him  suddenly  forward,  and,  quickly  pushing  him 
backward  with  a  sidling  motion,  he  fell  on  his  back,  and  was 
instantly  pinned  to  the  ground  by  the  agile  Indian,  who  placed 
his  knee  on  the  animal's  neck,  and  held  him  quiet  until  the 
bridle  was  put  on  and  adjusted.  He  then  allowed  him  to  rise 
to  his  feet,  and,  leaping  nimbly  on  his  back,  he  galloped  off. 
This  ended  the  performances  for  one  day. 


238  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

A  VISIT  TO  THE  MISSIONARY — HIS  ANXIETY  FOR  MY  WELFARE — A  PROPOSITION 
TO  GO  HOME,  OR   BECOME  A  MISSIONARY — I  RESPECTFULLY  DECLINE — A  VISIT 

TO   AN    INDIAN    SCHOOL SINGULAR    METHOD  OF    TEACHING   THE   CHILDREN 

THE    OBJECT    OF    IT PROMISE     TO    VISIT    THE    MISSIONARY     OFTEN — FRENCH 

PETE,  THE  TRADER — VISIT   TO    HIS    STORE — I    RELATE    TO    HIM    MY  HISTORY, 
AND  HE  TELLS  ME  A  STORY. 

I  WAS  invited  to  visit  the  missionary,  and  upon  going  up 
to  the  Mission  House,  was  cordially  welcomed  by  the  good 
man,  who  took  me  to  his  rude  study,  where  we  conversed  for 
several  hours.  The  burthen  of  his  discourse  seemed  to  be  the 
expression  of  a  desire  that  I  should  renounce  my  Indian  mode 
of  living,  and  either  go  back  to  my  people  again,  or  go  into 
some  business  which  would  have  for  its  object,  the  conversion 
of  the  savages  to  white  men's  ways.  I  pleaded  my  inability 
to  handle  such  affairs  as  they  should  be,  and  stated,  my  present 
object  in  living  among  them  was,  to  learn  their  language,  man 
ners,  habits,  and  customs,  as  well  as  to  have  some  little  ex 
perience  of  wild  life.  He  finally  dropped  the  subject,  and 
presently  asked,  if  I  would  like  to  visit  the  natives'  school. 
I  eagerly  accepted  his  offer,  and  together  we  went  to  the 
banks  of  the  creek,  near  which  was  a  rude  corral,  with  a  shed 
over  part  of  it,  under  which  were  seated,  on  the  ground,  some 
twenty  little  Indian  boys  and  girls.  In  their  midst  stood  a 


BELDEN  :    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  239 

tall  young  Indian  with  a  book  in  his  hand,  and  I  noticed  that 
all  the  children  had  books.  When  recitation  began,  none  of 
the  children  got  up  to  their  feet,  but  remained  sitting,  the 
teacher  walking  slowly  around  among  his  pupils,  asking  ques 
tions  of  this  one,  and  that  one,  indiscriminately.  Their  books 
were  printed  in  Washington  by  the  Indian  Bureau,  and  the 
letters  were  in  Roman  type,  on  ordinary  printing  paper.  But 
all  the  words  were  spelled  in  the  original  Sioux  language,  and 
no  English  words  were  used  at  all.  The  recitations  were 
altogether  in  Sioux.  This  surprised  me  very  much,  and  I  in 
quired,  why  they  did  not  teach  the  children  English  ?  and  what 
was  the  object  of  teaching  them  what  every  child  of  any  Indian 
tribe  learns  from  infancy,  by  hearing  it  from  its  parents  ?  The 
missionary  explained,  that  they  quickly  learned  to  read  and 
pronounce  words  of  their  own  language,  and  that  religious 
books  were  printed  in  the  Sioux  tongue,  which  were  intended 
to  be  read  by  these  same  pupils,  who  were  now  just  taught  the 
meaning  of  these  Roman  hieroglyphics,  that  they  might  know 
them  when  they  were  again  seen  in  religious  works.  This  was 
one  of  the  plans,  he  said,  for  conversion  of  the  Indians. 

After  listening  to  the  proceedings  of  a  Sioux  school  for  over 
an  hour,  we  walked  back  to  the  village,  and  while  passing  by 
the  trader's  store,  I  was  warmly  censured  for  neglecting  of 
late  my  visits  to  the  good  man.  Leaving  the  missionary  to  go 
to  his  home,  I  talked  a  little  while  with  the  trader,  whom  I 
had  found  to  be  quite  an  intelligent  man,  who  knew  many 
legends,  and  had  had  many  adventures  among  the  Sioux, 
which  he  said  he  would  "  trade,"  or  exchange,  for  some  narra 
tions  of  mine.  The  proposition  pleased  me,  and  I  said  I  would 
come  down  in  the  evening  when  he  had  closed  the  store,  and 
we  would  have  a  talk  in  the  back  room,  where  we  often  sat. 


240  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

The  trader  acquiesced,  and  asked  me  to  bring  the  old  man 
along  who  had  been  talking  in  front  of  my  lodge  the  night 
before,  "  for,"  said  he,  "  as  I  was  coming  up  from  the  river,  I 
heard  part  of  his  story,  which  was  very  interesting,  but  could 
not  stay  to  hear  it  out."  I  promised  I  would  bring  the  old 
man,  and  hurried  home  as  fast  as  I  could,  for  it  was  growing 
late,  and  I  was  very  hungry. 

After  supper,  I  went  to  the  old  man's  teepee,  but  he  would 
not  then  go  with  me  to  the  trader's  store,  promising,  however, 
he  would  be  over  by  and  by.  So  I  walked  over  alone. 

I  was  shown  into  the  back  room,  where  many  bales  of 
beaver  skins  were  stacked  against  the  walls,  and  in  a  corner 
was  spread  a  thick  bed  of  buffalo  robes.  Throwing  down  a 
couple  of  beaver  bales  for  seats,  I  sat  down  upon  one  of  them 
and  explained  the  cause  of  the  old  Indian's  absence.  My 
friend  Pete  (or  French  Pete),  as  the  trader  was  called,  had 
a  good-looking  squaw,  who  came  to  him,  and  he  told  her 
something  in  an  undertone,  when  she  left  the  room,  and  pres 
ently  returned  with  a  bottle  of  ginger  wine — "  medicine,"  as 
Pete  called  it — and  we  both  took  a  dram.  Then,  as  my  friend 
cut  off  some  tobacco,  to  mix  with  willow-bark  for  a  smoke,  he 
asked  me  to  tell  him  how  I  came  to  live  with  the  Santees, 
and  where  I  had  come  from.  I  complied  with  his  request; 
told  him  of  my  history  and  of  the  Pawnee  raid ;  after  which, 
I  lit  my  pipe,  and  settled  myself  to  hear  the  trader's  story. 


BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  241 


CHAPTER   XXXIV. 

THE    TRADER'S    STORY — ST.    PAUL   IN    EARLY   TIMES — FAILURE   OP   THE    INDIAN 

TRADE — PANIC   AMONG   THE    INDIAN   TRADERS OFF  FOR  THE  SAVAGE  TRIBES 

— PURCHASING    INDIAN     GOODS — FORT     RANDALL — MEETING    WITH     THE     LA 

FROMBE    BROTHERS WHAT   THEY   SAID CAMPING    IN     THE    OLD     RANCHE— 

STRANGE  VOICES — A   FRONTIER   SUPPER — SINGULAR   NOISES — THE   ALARM — A 

HEAD   ABOVE   THE  WALL — WAITING   FOR  THE  ENEMY — IMAGINED  SECURITY 

INTERVIEWING    THE    SAVAGES — DEATH    OF    THE    MAN    ON    THE   WALL PREP 
ARATIONS   FOR   THE   BATTLE — THE   INDIAN   WAR-WHOOP. 

"  T  WAS  living  up   in    St.  Paul    (Minnesota),    about    six 
-*•  years  ago,"  he  began,  "and   the  Indians   having    gone 
elsewhere  to  do  their  trading  that  season,  business  was  very 
dull. 

"  St.  Paul,  at  that  time,  was  only  a  big  trading  post,  and 
but  few  settlers  had  moved  there.  The  Indian  trade  was  the 
life  of  the  place,  and  one  season's  failure  in  this  trade  caused 
quite  a  panic  among  the  traders,  many  of  whom  had  put 
every  cent  of  cash  they  could  get  into  large  stocks  of  goods,  on 
which  they  expected  to  double  their  money.  Their  disappoint 
ment  was  very  great,  therefore,  and  several  of  them  boxed  up 
their  stores  and  moved  back  east,  while  others  sold  out  for  what 
they  could  get,  fully  believing  that  the  Indian  trade  at  St.  Paul 
was  at  an  end.  Whole  stocks  of  goods  were  sacrificed  at  small 
figures,  and  I  concluded  to  give  up  my  situation  as  clerk  in  a 
trader's  store,  and  with  what  cash  I  had  saved  up,  buy  some 


242  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

goods  and  go  where  the  Indians  lived.  This  I  did,  and  having 
three  ponies  already,  I  purchased  another,  to  be  paid  for  when 
I  returned,  and  loading  my  stock  of  blankets,  squaw-cloth, 
beads,  paint,  looking-glasses,  hawk-bells,  wampum,  necklaces, 
shells,  brass  wire,  and  sheet  silver,  started  for  the  Missoun 
River  country.  I  got  along  well  enough  until  I  reached  the 
Yankton  village  (near  where  Fort  Randall  now  stands),  and 
did  a  little  trading  there,  after  which  I  started  up  the  river, 
when  I  met,  on  the  second  day's  journey,  two  of  the  La  Frombe 
boys,  and  as  I  knew  them  both  well,  when  they  were  with  their 
brother,  Frank  La  Frombe,  a  trader  at  St.  Paul,  I  was,  of 
course,  glad  to  meet  them,  and  they  were  also  glad  to  see  me 
again.  They  were  going  down  to  Sioux  City,  on  no  particular 
business,  and  I  tried  to  get  them  to  go  along  with  me,  but  they 
said  that  the  Sioux  and  they  were  not  on  very  good  terms,  and 
they  had  concluded  to  stay  away  from  them,  lest  they  might 
have  trouble.  I  endeavored  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  the  ill- 
feeling  between  the  boys  and  the  Sioux,  but  both  of  them  kept 
very  mum,  and  would  not  tell  me.  Presently,  I  changed  the 
subject,  and  began  asking  them  for  information  which  might 
enable  me  to  easily  find  the  Indian  villages.  By  the  time  we  got 
through  talking,  it  was  getting  on  toward  night,  and  Baptiste, 
one  of  the  boys,  said  we  had  better  go  back  for  about  a  mile 
and  a  half,  on  the  road  they  had  just  come,  where  we  should 
find  an  old  log  shanty,  built  by  a  man  named  Bremer,  some  two 
or  three  years  before,  and  in  which  we  could  all  pass  the  night. 
I  would  find,  they  said,  four  walls  to  inclose  my  ponies  for 
safety,  and  a  good  fire-place  to  cook  in.  So  Baptiste,  Louis, 
and  myself,  moved  leisurely  along  the  road,  conversing  all  the 
way,  until  we  reached  the  old  house.  By  this  time  it  was  dark : 
BO  dark,  that  if  the  boys  had  not  known  exactly  where  the 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  243 

house  stood,  we  might  have  passed  within  a  few  feet  of  it  and 
not  seen  it. 

"  I  tied  my  ponies'  lariats  all  together,  and  allowed  them  to 
feed  just  outside  the  building.  The  boys  hunted  around  for 
sticks  to  build  a  fire  with,  and  had  soon  raked  together  an 
arm-load  of  weeds  and  brush.  We  found  no  fire-place,  how 
ever,  and  had  to  tramp  down  the  weeds  for  three  or  four  feet 
inside  the  house  to  make  sufficient  room  to  build  our  fire. 

"  Soon  a  bright  blaze  rewarded  our  efforts,  and  leading  the 
ponies  up  to  the  door,  one  at  a  time,  I  unloaded  them,  and 
laid  my  packs  down  inside  the  house.  Then  hoppling  their 
feet,  I  let  them  get  some  more  grass  before  tying  them  up  for 
the  night.  I  now  went  inside  to  get  something  to  eat,  and 
found  the  La  Frombe  boys  had  the  hind-quarter  of  an  ante 
lope  on  one  of  their  saddles,  and  as  I  had  some  coffee,  a  little 
sugar,  and  some  Indian  bread,  we  soon  made  a  hearty  meal. 
I  ate  fast  and  got  through  as  quickly  as  I  could.  The  La 
Frombes  were  but  half  done  eating  when  I  finished,  and  then 
sat  waiting  for  the  bone  of  one  of  the  antelope  quarters  to  roast 
a  little  more  for  Baptiste.  Presently,  as  I  was  busy  untying 
the  hopples,  and  bringing  my  own  and  the  boys'  ponies  inside,  I 
thought  I  heard  some  one  talking  out  on  the  prairie,  a  hundred 
or  a  hundred  and  fifty  yards  distant.  I  was  just  untying  the 
hopples  on  the  last  pony,  when  I  again  heard  voices  distinctly, 
and  I  raised  up  to  my  feet  and  listened,  but  hearing  nothing 
more,  concluded  I  had  been  mistaken,  and  went  into  the  house 
with  the  ponies.  I  did  not  say  any  thing  to  the  boys  about 
having  heard  the  voices,  for  fear  it  might  turn  out  to  be  a  false 
alarm,  and  I  would  get  laughed  at.  Lighting  my  pipe,  I  drew 
the  buckle  of  my  belt  a  little  tighter,  and  went  to  the  opening, 
which  had  once  been  a  door-place,  and,  leaning  against  the  wall, 


244  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

smoked  and  listened.  The  La  Frombe's  were  still  eating  away 
and  conversing  to  each  other,  and  I  began  to  think  of  what 
harm  could  attend  us,  even  if  Indians  were  in  the  vicinity, 
for  they  were  not  at  war  with  the  whites,  and  I  had  heard 
lately  of  no  depredations  being  committed  by  them.  '  Shaw ! 
there  was  nothing  to  fear  after  all/  I  said  to  myself,  '  but 
might  they  not  be  around  trying  to  steal  stock  ?' 

"  Here  was  food  for  my  thoughts,  and  I  was  busily  turning 
the  matter  over,  when  I  noticed  a  sudden  cessation  of  the 
conversation  between  the  La  Frombe  boys.  Each  sat  by 
the  fire,  their  mouths  open,  their  eyes  half  closed,  and  appa 
rently  listening  to  sounds  outside.  In  a  moment  more,  Louis 
La  Frombe  got  up  very  cautiously,  and  carefully  avoiding 
to  break  any  of  the  tall  weeds  as  he  stepped,  went  to  the 
corner  farthest  from  the  fire,  where  all  our  rifles  were,  and 
quietly  removing  his  own  from  the  stack,  came  back  to  the 
fire,  and  spoke  a  few  words  to  Baptiste,  who  got  up  and 
went  for  his  rifle.  I  now  had  my  suspicions  aroused,  and  mo 
tioned  for  Baptiste  to  bring  my  gun  with  him,  which  he  did. 
When  he  got  to  the  door,  where  I  was  still  standing,  my  ears 
stretched  to  catch  any  sound  that  might  betray  the  existence  of 
an  enemy  outside.  Baptiste  whispered  to  me,  and  asked  if  I  had 
heard  it.  '  Heard  what?'  I  inquired.  'Some  one  talking  out 
side  the  wall,  on  the  side  opposite  the  door/  Baptiste  replied. 
'  Louis  heard  it/  he  added,  ( but  when  I  listened,  I  could  n't 
hear  any  thing  but  the  sucking  of  your  pipe/  I  led  Baptiste 
over  to  where  Louis  was,  and  told  both  of  them  what  I  had 
heard  myself.  ' They've  followed  us,  Baptiste!'  said  Louis, 
'  let  us  put  something  in  the  doorway,  for  they  've  found  us, 
sure  as  we  live,  and  we  must  fight.'  In  a  few  minutes,  we^  had 
arranged  my  packs,  and  the  saddles,  so  as  to  form  a  tolerable 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  245 

barricade  in  the  door,  and  each  of  us  arranged  our  arms  and 
ammunition  so  as  to  have  them  at  hand  in  case  of  sudden  need. 
Then  we  waited  in  silence  for  something  to  transpire.  After 
we  had  been  quietly  watching  and  listening  for  a  long  time,  and 
the  fire  had  gone  down  until  the  blaze  died  out,  and  the  coals 
only  remained  gleaming  in  the  ashes,  I  began  to  feel  more 
easy,  and  to  believe  that  the  night  breeze  which  rustled  the  tall 
weeds  around  the  old  house,  had  made  the  noise  imagined  by 
all  of  us  to  be  human  voices.  So  I  took  out  my  pipe,  cut 
some  tobacco,  and  filling  it,  went  to  the  fire  to  get  a  light. 
Going  back  to  the  boys,  who  sat  leaning  against  the  wall,  their 
guns  in  their  hands,  I  said,  '  Louis,  what  did  you  mean,  when 
you  said  awhile  ago,  that  the  Indians  had  found  you  out,  and 
had  followed  you?'  'We  had  a  little  difficulty  with  some 
Santees  about  two  days  ago,  and  Baptiste  killed  a  girl  by  acci 
dent,  while  shooting  at  a  warrior,  who  was  the  brother  of 
Baptiste's  squaw/  he  replied.  He  then  said,  '  The  warrior  and 
Baptiste  had  a  quarrel  about  a  pony  trade,  and  the  wind-up  of 
the  affair  was,  each  tried  to  killed  the  other,  the  Indian  firing 
first,  missed  Baptiste,  who,  instead  of  taking  steady  aim,  as  he 
had  plenty  of  time  to  do,  jerked  up  his  gun,  and  fired  at  the 
fellow,  missing  him,  and  hitting  a  girl  in  the  throat,  killing 
her  almost  instantly.'  '  That 's  the  whole  of  it,  and  the  cause 
of  our  traveling  eastward/  added  Baptiste. 

"'The  confounded  brutes  are  after  us,  or  I  thought  they 
were  only  a  little  while  ago/  said  Louis. 

"'Well,  it's  a  tough  piece  of  business,  boys/  said  I,  'and 
1  am  surprised  at  Baptiste  using  his  rifle  to  settle  a  quarrel 
about  such  an  affair  as  a  pony  trade.' 

"  '  Oh,  this  is  not  the  first  time  his  hot-headedness  has  got  us 
both  into  trouble/  said  Louis;  'he  had  to  get  on  a  bender 
15 


246  BELDENI   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

down  at  Sioux  City  last  fall,  when  we  went  with  the  Sioux,  tc 
do  some  trading,  and  Baptiste  quarreled  with  a  white  man, 
and  drew  his  revolver  and  shot  him  four  times,  killing  him 
dead.  The  man  also  shot  Baptiste  through  the  leg,  and  he 
was  laid  up  for  two  months  from  it.9 

" '  Boys/  said  I,  '  one  thing  is  clear :  you  and  I  have  been 
mistaken  about  hearing  voices  outside,  for  if  there  had  been 
any  Indians  close,  we  would  have  heard  from  them  an  hour 
ago.  Let  us  spread  out  our  blankets  and  lie  down,  then  we 
can  listen,  and  all  stay  awake  as  long  as  we  want,  or  take 
tur'ns  in  watching.'  This  was  readily  agreed  to,  and  still 
keeping  our  guns  with  us,  laid  down  en  our  backs,  with 
our  coats  doubled  up  under  our  heads  for  pillows.  We  lay 
thus  for  over  an  hour,  when  suddenly,  I  thought  I  saw 
something  like  a  bunch  of  grass  waving  near  the  corner 
of  the  wall,  on  the  side  of  the  house  opposite  the  door. 
There  was  no  roof  on  the  house,  only  the  walls  being  left 
standing.  So  we  laid  under  the  sky.  I  watched  the  corner 
very  closely,  where  I  thought  I  had  seen  the  grass  move, 
and  in  a  minute  saw  the  same  thing  again;  this  time  I  made 
it  out  against  the  sky  to  be  a  bunch  of  feathers.  Slowly  it 
rose  above  the  wall,  and  then  a  head  covered  with  long,  black, 
shining  hair,  appeared,  peering  cautiously  down  inside  the  old 
house  to  see  if  we  were  there. 

"After  a  moment's  survey  of  our  quarters,  the  head  as  slowly 
and  silently  withdrew.  'Did  you  see  that?'  I  whispered  to 
Baptiste,  who  laid  near  me.  'Yes/  he  replied,  'only  let  it 
come  up  there  again ! '  He  raised  the  muzzle  of  his  rifle,  for* 
the  purpose  of  having  it  ready  for  instant  use,  when  the -head 
should  appear;  but  Louis  seized  the  barrel,  and  told  Baptiste 
to  hold  up,  and  not  to  shoot  too  quickly,  or  he  might  repent  it. 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  247 

I  told  the  boys  that  '  as  we  are  now  positive  our  fears  are  not 
without  foundation,  and  that,  beyond  a  doubt,  the  Indians  are 
around  us  in  large  numbers,  as  they  would  not  start  on  the  trail 
of  two  such  men  as  the  La  Frombe  brothers,  without  having 
superior  numbers  an4  arms,  so  as  to  ensure  their  success,  I 
will  go  outside  and  try  to  find  out  what  they  are  after,  and  see 
if  talking  can  not  send  them  off/ 

" f  It  will  be  of  no  use,  I  can  tell  you/  said  Baptiste,  '  they 
are  after  me,  and  will  do  their  utmost  to  get  me.  All  your 
ponies  and  stock  would  not  tempt  them  to  leave  us  alone.' 

" '  I  will  try  it  anyhow/  I  said,  ( only  I  want  you  to  promise 
not  to  use  your  rifle  until  I  first  see  what  can  be  done.'  Louis 
and  Baptiste  both  agreed  to  this,  and,  leaning  my  rifle  against 
the  door  within  easy  reach,  I  put  my  two  revolvers  in  my  belt, 
and  jumping  over  the  barricade,  I  called  out: 

"  '  Sioux  !  my  friends.' 

"  '  What  is  it  ? '  answered  two  voices. 

" '  I  wish  to  talk  with  you  in  peace,  and  find  out  why  you 
are  here,  and  what  you  want ;  I  have  left  my  gun  in  the  house 
and  do  not  want  to  shoot  you,  or  have  you  shoot  me.  Will  you 
talk  with  me?' 

"  '  We  do  not  know  you.  You  have  a  strange  voice ;  yet, 
you  speak  our  language.  What  do  they  call  you?' 

"  '  I  am  a  trader  from  the  big  trading  place  in  Minnesota, 
and  am  on  my  way  to  visit  your  people  to  trade  with  them.  I 
have  four  ponies  loaded  with  fine  goods/  I  replied. 

"  '  We  are  your  friends ;  and,  if  you  are  ours,  you  must  pack 
up  your  ponies  and  go  on  your  road  to  the  village,  which  is 
only  two  days'  travel.  We  want  you  to  leave  the  men  inside 
of  the  house,  for  we  have  been  hunting  them  for  two  days,  and 
have  now  just  found  them.' 


248  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

"'I  am  an  old  friend  of  theirs  and  their  brother,  and 
would  wish  to  know  why  you  are  after  them.' 

" ( They  killed  one  of  our  tribe,  and  we  come  for  revenge. 
We  must  kill  them ;  will  you  go  on  toward  the  village  to 
night,  or  remain  with  them  and  be  killed?  If  you  start  now, 
you  will  be  safe ;  but,  if  you  stay,  you  will  die,  for  there  are 
twenty-two  of  us,  and  we  declare  we  will  kill  all  we  find  in 
the  house,  after  the  fight  begins/ 

" ( If  I  give  you  a  blanket  apiece,  and  some  presents,  will 
you  leave  us  and  go  away  ? '  I  asked. 

"'No,  we  want  the  men,  and  do  not  care  for  ponies  or 
presents/  the  speaker  replied. 

"' Don't  talk  with  the  durned  skunks  any  longer,  Pete/ 
said  Baptiste,  '  come  inside,  or  what  would  be  better  for  you, 
tell  them  you  will  go  on  to  their  village  to-night,  and  go. 
.Louis  and  I  can  either  clean  them  out,  or  get  away  from 
them  before  morning.'  I  refused  to  entertain  the  proposition 
of  going  on,  and  leaving  them  to  fight  their  enemies  alone, 
and  immediately  told  the  Sioux,  that  ( I  had  traveled  a  long 
way  to  visit  them,  and  had  always  been  friendly  with  all  other 
branches  of  their  tribe,  but  I  could  not  think  of  leaving  my 
own  countrymen  to  fight  such  an  unequal  battle,  when  I 
might  aid  them  by  remaining/  I  said,  I  would  rather  lose 
every  thing  I  possessed,  than  shoot  one  Indian,  yet,  if  they 
would  attack  the  two  men,  I  would  stay  and  assist  them.  I 
had  just  concluded  this  reply,  when  'crash/  went  a  rifle 
inside  the  building,  and  I  heard  the  heavy  thud  of  a  body 
dropping  on  the  ground,  below  the  corner  where  I  had  seen 
the  head  peering  over  the  wall.  Quickly  I  leaped  over  the 
barricade,  and  gained  the  inside  of  the  building,  where  Bap 
tiste  was  engaged  hastily  reloading  his  rifle,  having  just 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  249 

added  one  more  to  his  long  list  of  notches  on  the  stick.  I 
seized  my  trusty  rifle,  and  placed  myself  beside  Louis,  who 
was  guarding  the  door.  There  was  now  a  great  jabbering 
among  the  Indians,  who  were  carrying  away  their  dead  com 
rade;  then,  after  a  few  moments'  silence,  the  most  unearthly 
yells,  which  ever  met  human  ears,  arose  in  the  still  midnight 
air. 

22 


250  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    XXXV. 

THH     ATTACK — THE     REPULSE — FIRING     THE     PRAIRIE  —  STRENGTHENING     OUR 

WORKS LOUIS  IS  WOUNDED — A  BROADSIDE  AT   THE   INDIANS — GOOD  EFFECTS 

OF  A  DOUBLE-BARRELED  GUN — A  TRUCE — CARRYING  OFF  THE  DEAD — INDIAN 
STRATEGY — ALL  READY  AGAIN — RENEWAL  OF  THE  BATTLE — TOMAHAWKED— 
DEATH  OF  BAPTISTE — ESCAPE  OF  LOUIS — RETURN  TO  CONSCIOUSNESS — KIND 
NESS  OF  THE  INDIANS — I  JOIN  THE  TRIBE  AND  GET  BACK  MY  GOODS — TRAD 
ING  IN  THE  INDIAN  CAMP — THE  PROFITS — OFF  TO  ST.  LOUIS  FOR  MORE 
GOODS — END  OF  THE  TRADER'S  STORY. 

"  A  MOMENT  of  painful  silence  succeeded  the  yell  of  the 
-^-  savages,  and  then  we  could  hear  their  suppressed  breath 
ing,  as  the  red  devils  crawled  under  the  old  walls  of  the  shanty. 
I  held  a  position  on  the  left  of  the  doorway,  where  I  could 
have  an  opportunity  of  seeing  any  one  who  approached  from 
the  right,  and  Louis  remained  on  the  right  side,  where  he  could 
command  the  left  of  the  doorway.  While  we  were  straining 
our  eyes  and  ears  to  hear  every  sound,  Baptiste  suddenly  fired, 
and  shot  another  Indian  from  the  top  of  the  old  wall,  where  he 
had  climbed.  We  heard  the  body  drop  with  a  thud  outside, 
where  the  first  had  fallen.  The  noise  of  voices,  all  talking 
together,  and  much  excited,  as  on  the  previous  occasion,  was 
heard,  and  we  felt  that  a  great  struggle  was  at  hand. 

"(For  about  a  minute  not  a  sound  was  heard,  not  even  the 
breathing  of  the  villains  outside  the  walls.     Suddenly  the  sky 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  251 

grew  red  with  the  light  of  burning  prairie  grass,  which  had 
been  heaped  up  around  the  old  building,  not  with  the  intention 
ot  roasting  us  out,  for  that  was  impossible,  but  to  make  a 
light,  so  the  savages  could  see  where  to  attack  to  the  best  ad 
vantage.  They  also  wished  to  prevent  us  from  seeing  where 
they  kept  themselves  outside  the  blazing  circle.  Had  they  not 
attacked  us  immediately,  the  fire  would  have  been  to  our  ad 
vantage,  for  we  could  see  and  have  time  to  strengthen  the  bar 
ricade. 

"  With  a  small  hatchet,  which  I  carried  with  me  for  camp  use, 
and  a  butcher-knife,  I  dug  up  sufficient  earth  to  fill  one  of  the 
cracks  in  the  door,  and  had  almost  done  working  at  it,  when  a 
shower  of  arrows  came  rattling  over  the  top  of  the  barricade 
into  the  shanty,  several  of  which  struck  the  ponies,  causing 
quite  a  panic  among  them.  We  had  no  time  to  trouble  about 
the  ponies,  however,  for,  while  I  watched  the  door,  Baptiste  tied 
a  piece  of  calico  around  Louis's  leg,  an  arrow  having  slightly 
wounded  him,  just  below  the  knee.  His  wound  was  not  dan 
gerous  or  painful,  but  bled  profusely.  While  Baptiste  was 
tying  on  the  bandage,  I  saw  several  savages  leap  over  the 
smoldering  fire  near  the  building,  and  rush  in  a  body  at  our 
barricade.  I  quickly  called  to  the  boys  to  come  on,  and  we 
raised  our  guns,  and,  taking  deliberate  aim — Baptiste  at  those 
on  the  left,  Louis  at  those  on  the  right,  and  myself  at  the  cen 
ter  of  the  yelling  mass — we  fired.  The  boys  each  got  his 
man,  and  my  old  double-barreled  rifle  knocked  down  one.  In 
dian  dead,  and  badly  wounded  two  more.  I  still  had  a  load 
in  reserve,  but  not  long,  for,  believing  our  guns  to  be  empty, 
they  came  yelling  on  with  bows  and  hatchets  in  their  hands. 
I  quickly  fired  again,  and  five  of  them  were  badly  wounded 
by  my  second  shot.  In  alarm  and  astonishment,  they  ga^e 


252  .  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

way,  evidently  having  never  seen  or  felt  the  effects  of  a  double 
barreled  gun  before. 

"  They  were  now  so  weak  in  force,  and  so  badly  demoralized, 
that  they  waved  a  blanket,  and  called  out:  '  No  fire  again — 
little  while/  This  was  a  truce  we  were  not  sorry  to  accept, 
hoping  they  would,  in  a  short  time,  go  away.  I  told  the  boys 
to  grant  their  request,  and  soon  saw  the  dark  shadows  busily 
engaged  dragging  off  the  dead  and  wounded,  who  lay  in  front 
of  the  building.  I  called  out,  and  asked  them  to  tell  us  when 
they  were  ready  to  begin  again,  that  we  were  now  impatient 
to  have  a  good  fight,  and  wished  them  to  hurry,  as  it  was  only 
amusement  for  us.  The  answer  to  my  request  was,  that  they 
would  notify  us  when  they  were  ready,  or,  as  they  expressed 
it,  '  Good !  tell  you  by  and  by/  The  dusky  forms  were  seen 
flitting  now  and  then  in  front  of  us,  and  stealthily  moving 
over  the  ground,  as  if  searching  for  some  article  they  had 
dropped  during  the  advance  upon  the  building.  While  we 
were  quietly  watching  these  shadows,  one  of  them  called  out, 
1  Ready?'  'Yes!'  I  answered.  'Well,  all  right/  he  said; 
and  just  as  we  laid  our  guns  over  the  barricade  to  repulse 
them  from  the  front,  where  the  speaker  stood,  a  dozen  big 
savages  dropped  from  the  top  of  the  wall  into  the  house,  and 
rushed  upon  us  before  ^re  had  time  to  take  our  rifles  off  the 
barricade.  Smash!  crash!  bang!  went  the  heavy  rifle  butts, 
and  over  rolled  the  warriors,  one  after  another,  until  five  laid 
on  the  ground,  where  the  frightened  ponies  kicked  and  tramped 
them  so  badly  that  two  were  killed  outright.  The  rest  of  the 
party,  who  were  outside,  now  dashed  over  the  door  barricade, 
and  then  some  one  from  behind  knocked  me  down  with  a 
hatchet.  I  must  have  been  unconscious  for  several  hours,  for, 
when  I  recovered,  the  moon  was  up  very  high;  and  it  had  not 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  255 

yet  begun  to  rise  when  the  fight  was  going  on.  I  found  my 
self  lying  on  a  buffalo  robe  outside  the  old  building,  and  sev 
eral  Indians  squatting  on  the  ground  about  ten  feet  distant, 
dividing  my  goods  and  trinkets,  which  they  had  found  inside 
the  ranche.  One  of  the  Indians  saw  me  turn  over,  or, 
perhaps,  heard  me  groan,  as  I  endeavored  to  turn  my  head 
in  the  direction  they  were,  for  he  said :  ( 'Merican  man, 
he  awake ;  what  shall  we  do  now  ? '  A  low  conversation  was 
held  among  them,  which  I  could  not  hear,  when  presently 
a  warrior  came  to  me,  and  said :  ( Brother,  you  have  acted 
very  foolishly  in  helping  those  two  bad  men  against  us. 
You  have  been  nearly  killed,  and  would  have  been  killed 
outright,  only  that  we  knew  the  two  bad  men  had  cast  a  spell 
on  you,  and  you  could  not  help  doing  what  you  did.  Are  you 
very  sick  ? ' 

"  *  No/  I  replied ;  '  where  are  the  Frombes  ? 9 

" l  There  is  one  of  them/  said  the  warrior,  pointing  to  poor 
Baptiste,  whose  body  dangled  from  the  wall,  over  which  he 
had  been  hung  with  his  own  lariat.  His  head  looked  white 
on  the  top,  in  the  moonlight,  and  I  knew  it  was  because  the 
scalp  had  been  removed.  '  The  other  one  got  away/  continued 
the  warrior,  '  but  he  can  not  escape,  for  good  hunters  are  after 
him ;  and  we  are  waiting  here  until  they  return.  He  was  badly 
wounded  before  he  got  on  his  pony,  so  badly,  that  if  any  one 
had  noticed  him  in  time,  we  could  have  caught  him  before 
he  mounted.7 

"  '  What  are  you  going  to  do  with  me  ? '  I  inquired. 

" '  You  told  us  you  were  going  to  our  village/,  he  answered  ; 
'and  you  can  go  with  us.' 

"  But  what  is  the  use  of  my  going  to  the  village,  when  you 
have  taken  away  all  my  goods  ?' 


256  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

"  'If  you  will  join  our  tribe,  and  help  us  fight  our  enemies, 
we  will  give  you  back  every  thing  we  have  taken/ 

" '  I  will  do  it/  I  said,  ( if  you  do  not  ask  me  to  fight  my 
own  people.' 

" '  We  will  not  ask  that  of  you/  the  warrior  answered,  as  he 
brought  me  my  ponies,  and  assisted  me  to  pack  my  things  on 
the  saddles.  Then,  bringing  me  my  double-barreled  gun, 
he  stooped  down  and  tied  up  my  head  with  a  piece  of  tanned 
elk-skin,  and  bound  some  cooling  leaves  over  the  wound, 
which  made  me  feel  quite  comfortable. 

"In  about  half  an  hour  we  heard  a  shout,  apparently  a  long 
distance  to  the  westward,  and  the  Indians  with  whom  I  had 
been  conversing  answered  it,  and  then  hurriedly  directed  me  to 
'mount  and  come  on.'  All  jumped  on  their  ponies,  and,  get 
ting  behind  my  pack  animals,  whipped  them  into  a  fast  pace. 
We  soon  came  upon  the  party  who  had  been  pursuing  Louis, 
and  I  saw  that  the  leader,  a  petty  chief,  held  in  his  hand  Louis's 
rifle.  I  was  sure  he  had  killed  him,  but  could  not  account  for 
the  absence  of  the  pony  he  had  rode.  My  fears  were  soon  set 
at  rest,  however,  by  the  chief  telling  my  Indian  friend  that 
Louis  had  swam  the  river  on  his  pony,  and  had  shot  at  them 
just  before  he, went  into  the  water's  edge,  and  then  dropped  his 
rifle,  which  they  had  fished  out.  They  said  they  fired  some 
twenty  arrows  at  Louis  as  he  swam  beside  his  pony,  but  they 
could  not  tell  whether  he  was  struck  or  not,  as  they  did 
not  see  any  one  coming  out  on  the  other  bank  of  the  river, 
but  admitted  it  was  too  dark  to  see  him,  even  if  he  had 
emerged. 

"  I  felt  thankful  for  Louis's  escape,  but  discreetly  said  noth 
ing.  We  now  tramped  along  about  a  mile  further,  and  then 
halted  and  encamped  for  the  night.  While  we  were  lying 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  257 

around  the  fire,  and  I  was  asleep,  an  Indian  came  and  shook 
me,  and  said :  '  Why  do  you  groan  and  make  such  a  noise  ? ' 
I  told  him  I  did  not  know  I  had  done  so,  as  I  was  asleep,  and 
that  my  wounded  head  was  probably  the  cause  of  it.  He  said, 
'Your  wounds  are  nothing — look  at  those  six  warriors  over 
there!  they  are  every  one  worse  hurt  than  yourself,  yet  they 
do  not  groan  or  make  such  a  fuss;  we  can  not  sleep.'  I 
got  up  and  went  to  one  of  the  Indians  who  was  awake,  and 
who  was  the  same  one  I  had  hurt  with  the  buckshot  of  my 
double-barreled  gun.  Presently  all  awoke,  and  I  asked  one 
of  them  if  I  could  do  any  thing  for  him.  He  said  he 
wanted  water,  and  I  immediately  brought  him  some.  They 
all  drank  prodigiously,,  their  wounds  making  them  feverish 
and  thirsty. 

"Next  morning,  we  moved  out  early,  and  by  night  reached 
the  village.  I  bought  a  teepee,  and  put  my  goods  up  for  trade, 
and,  in  a  short  time,  sold  out,  at  good  prices,  all  I  had.  I 
then  went  to  Sioux  City,  where  I  got  on  a  steamboat,  and  hur 
ried  to  St.  Louis  for  more  goods.  I  found  Indian  trading  very 
profitable,  and  ever  since  then  I  have  engaged  in  it,  more  or 
less,  among  the  different  tribes. 

"  About  a  year  ago,  while  at  old  Fort  Pierre,  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Missouri,  I  met  Louis  La  Frombe,  and  found  him 
well  and  hearty.  He  said  he  had  been  badly  wounded,  and, 
after  fording  the  river,  in  which  he  received  an  arrow  in  the 
shoulder,  the  shaft  remaining  in  for  two  days,  he  had  lain  down 
on  the  opposite  bank,  utterly  exhausted  and  helpless.  He  fell 
asleep,  and  his  pony  strayed  off  a  mile  or  two,  putting  him  to 
a  great  deal  of  trouble  to  find  him ;  but  he  finally  succeeded, 
and  moved  up  the  river  to  the  fort,  where  the  traders  had  ex 
tracted  the  arrow  and  attended  him  until  his  wounds  were 

23 


258  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

healed.  They  had  to  keep  him  concealed  all  the  time,  how 
ever,  for  fear  the  Sioux,  who  came  there  occasionally,  would 
find  him." 

Thus  ended  the  trader's  story,  with  which  I  was  much 
pleased;  and,  after  tasting  the  "medicine"  again,  and  having 
a  little  conversation  about  his  goods,  prospects  in  trade,  and 
other  matters,  we  parted  for  the  night. 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  259 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

I 

TRADITIONS  OP  THE  SIOUX  NATION — THEIR  ORIGIN  AND  EARLY  HISTORY,  AS 
TOLD  BY  THEMSELVES — DIVISION  OF  THE  ASSINIBOINES  FROM  THE  SIOTJX — 
THE  LOVE  OF  A  FAITHLESS  WOMAN  CAUSES  WAR. 

ONE  evening  I  had  a  long  conversation  with  some  old  men 
of  the  tribe,  during  which  the  missionary  was  present, 
about  the  Sioux  and  Santees.  I  learned  that  they  had,  as  far 
back  as  the  oldest  warrior  could  remember,  been  a  separate 
band.  Their  forefathers  had  told  them  they  originally  lived  in 
Minnesota ;  but  they  could  not  tell  me  any  thing  beyond  that, 
and  believed  they  had  always  lived  there.  This  idea  has 
some  foundation  in  the  word  Minnesota,  which  is  a  Sioux  word, 
meaning  "  minne,"  water,  "  sota,"  bleared  or  turbid,  i.  e.,  tur 
bid  water.  This  I  readily  ascertained  from  knowing  that  the 
word  "  blear-eyed,"  or,  as  the  Sioux  call  it,  "  an  eye  with 
troubled  water,"  is,  in  their  language,  "  ees-ta "  (eye)  "  so-to  " 
(bleared  or  turbid),  that  is,  "  blear-eyed." 

The  Sioux  never  call  themselves  Sioux,  but  Da-ko-ta.  The 
term  Sioux  is  a  mere  nickname  given  them  many  years  ago  by 
the  first  white  men  that  came  among  them,  who  were  French 
men.*  The  language  they  speak  is  called  "  La-co-ta,"  a  word 

*  The  name  of  Sioux  that  we  give  to  these  Indians  is  entirely  of  our 
own  making,  or,  rather,  it  is  the  last  two  syllables  of  the  name  Nadoues- 
sioux,  as  many  nations  call  them. — (Extract  from  letter  of  Charlevoix,  in 
1721.  See  Neill's  History  of  Minnesota,  page  51.) 


260  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

of  their  own,  the  "  la "  being  substituted  for  "  da  "  to  distin 
guish  the  word  man  from  language.  The  word  Da-ko-ta,  by 
which  they  prefer  to  be  called,  signifies  "  allied,  or  joined  to 
gether  in  love,"  and  is  the  same  as  our  motto,  E pluribus  unum. 
A  writer  of  a  mission  history,  published  over  two  hundred 
years  ago,  says :  "  For  sixty  leagues  from  the  extremity  of  the 
upper  lake,  toward  sunset,  and,  as  it  were,  in  the  center  of  the 
western  nations,  they  have  all  united  their  forces  by  a  general 
league." 

The  Da-ko-tas,  as  far  back  as  we  have  any  record  of  them 
up  to  the  present  time,  are  called  Soos,  Scioux,  and  Sioux. 
For  many  hundred  years  the  Indians  of  Lake  Superior  were 
at  war  with  the  Dakotas,  and  when  they  speak  of  them  they 
call  them  the  Na-do-way  Sioux,  which,  in  Ojiboway  lan 
guage,  means  "  enemy."  From  this  we  have  the  derivation  for 
Sioux. 

I  also  learned  from  the  missionary,  who  had  made  the  origin 
and  early  life  of  the  Sioux  nation  his  study,  that  from  a  very 
early  period  the  tribe  had  been  divided  into  three  great  nations 
or  bands — the  I-san-ya-ti,  or  the  Is-sa-ti,  the  name  of  one  of 
the  lakes  where  they  lived.  The  principal  band  of  the  Is-sa-tis 
was  the  M'de-wa-kan-ton-wan,  pronounced  "  Meddy-waw- 
kawn-twawn."  The  second  great  band  was  the  "I-hank-ton- 
wan,"  or  Yankton.  They  formerly  lived  north  of  the  Minne 
sota  River,  and  are  now  on  the  eastern  banks  of  the  Missouri 
River,  near  Fort  Randall,  D.  T.  The  third  band  was  the  "Ti- 
ton-wans,"  who  lived  farther  west  than  the  I-hank-ton-wans. 
This  tribe  was  sometimes  called  the  "  Tin-ton-wans,"  a  corrup 
tion  of  the  original  name.  The  pronunciation  of  the  name  is 
Tee-twawons.  In  the  last  great  band  is  embraced  the  bands 
known  as  Santees,  Ogallalas,  and  Brules,  who  never  appear 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


261 


in  sight  of  emigrants'  wagons  on  the  prairies,  but  their  hearts 
fill  with  painful  apprehensions. 

North  of  the  Dakotas,  on  Lake  of  the  Woods,  which  is  con 
nected  with  Lake  Superior,  are  the  Assiniboines.     They  were 

once  a  band  of  the 
Sioux  nation,  and 
speak  the  language  at 
this  day.  An  old  San- 
tee  said  he  remembered 
a  story,  which  had  been 
handed  down  for  many 
generations  in  his  tribe, 
relating  to  the  Assini 
boines.  According  to 
this  tradition,  they  are 
Sioux,  and  had  always 
been,  but  the  whites 
called  them  by  another 
name.  The  following 
was  given  as  the  cause 
Assiniboine  warrior.  of  their  separation  from 

the  main  Sioux  tribe  : 

A  young  warrior  loved  the  wife  of  another  warrior,  and 
whenever  the  latter  was  absent  from  home  the  young  man  went 
to  the  warrior's  teepee,  and  talked  to  his  squaw.  She  began  to 
like  him ;  and  they  enjoyed  each  other's  company  for  many 
days,  till  at  last  the  warrior,  having  noticed  unmistakable  signs 
of  the  faithlessness  of  his  wife,  threatened  her  with  instant 
death  unless  she  dismissed  her  lover.  He  then  went  to  the 
council  house ;  and,  as  soon  as  he  had  gone,  the  guilty  woman 
hurried  to  her  lover's  lodge,  and  acquainted  him  with  all  that 


262  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

had  passed.  While  she  still  talked  to  him  the  husband  came 
into  the  tent  for  his  squaw;  and  a  quarrel  ensued  between  the 
young  man  and  the  warrior.  They  came  to  blows ;  which 
were  soon  exchanged  for  weapons;  and  the  husband  met  his 
death  at  the  hands  of  the  young  man.  The  husband's  relations, 
among  whom  was  his  aged  father,  went  to  get  the  body  of  the 
warrior,  which  still  lay  in  the  young  man's  lodge,  where  it 
had  fallen ;  and,  on  the  way  to  the  teepee,  the  father's  party 
were  met  by  some  friends  of  the  young  man,  and  a  fight  en 
sued,  in  which  three  of  the  guilty  man's  friends  were  killed. 
The  father  then  went  back,  and  raised  a  party  of  sixty  warri 
ors,  who  declared  war  against  the  seducer  and  his  friends. 
Several  battles  were  fought ;  and  the  whole  tribe  finally  joined 
in  the  war,  the  sides  being  almost  equal  in  numbers.  The  af 
fair  ended  in  a  revolt  upon  the  part  of  the  seducer  and  his 
adherents,  who  in  time  became  a  separate  people,  and  are  now 
called  the  Assiniboines.  So  ended  the  tradition,  which  is  th 
story  of  another  woman  who  caused  a  war. 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  263 


CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

»HE    INDIAN     SWEAT^LODGE — HOW    IT    IS    BUILT — MANNER    OF  USING    IT — HOW 

THE  INDIANS  TREAT    THEIR    SICK— OLD  MEN  AND  WOMEN   OP  NO    ACCOUNT 

INDIAN  SCIENCE  OP  MEDICINE — I  GET  SICK — THE  MISSIONARY'S  MEDICINE — I 
GROW  WORSE — ANXIETY  OF  MY  SQUAW — SHE  CONSULTS  WITH  THE  OLD  MED 
ICINE  MAN — WHAT  THEY  DID — A  STUBBORN  DOCTOR  AND  WIFE — I  AM  TO  BE 
KILLED  OR  CURED — TERRIBLE  SWEAT — I  FAINT  FROM  EXHAUSTION — THEY 

TRY  TO  DROWN  ME — RAPID  RECOVERY WONDERFUL  BENEFICIAL  EFFECTS  OP 

THE  SWEAT-BATH CASES  IN  WHICH  THE  SWEAT-BATH  IS  NEVER  USED. 

ON  many  occasions,  when  traveling  over  the  Indian  coun 
try,  I  found  old  deserted  camps,  in  nearly  every  one  of 
which,  where  the  Indians  had  staid  any  time,  were  the  skeleton 
or  bent  poles  of  the  sweat  lodges.  These  were  not  peculiar  to 
any  tribe,  but  alike  in  the  camps  of  Arrapahoes,  Cheyennes, 
Pawnees,  and  Sioux.  A  description  of  this  curious  institution 
will  not  be  out  of  place.  Unlike  any  other  teepee,  it  is  made 
of  stout  willows,  two  and  three  inches  in  thickness,  which  are 
bent,  and  both  ends  pushed  into  the  ground  firmly.  When  all 
the  poles  are  thus  set,  they  are  in  the  shape  of  a  large  wire  rat- 
trap.  This  lodge  is  only  about  four  feet  high,  and  is  covered 
with  good  elk  or  buffalo  hide,  devoid  of  holes  or  open  seams. 
The  circumference  of  the  lodge  at  its  base  is  usually  eighteen 
feet.  When  the  canvas  or  hide  covering  is  well  stretched  over 
it,  the  edges  next  the  Aground  are  firmly  held  to  the  earth  by 
large  heavy  stones.  On  the  inside  of  the  lodge  the  ground  is 
16 


264  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

smoothed,  and  in  the  center  a  hole  is  dug  for  a  fire-place,  in 
which  some  ten  or  twelve  large  stones  are  always  kept  in  readi 
ness  should  any  person  need  a  sudden  sweat. 

If  the  science  of  medicine  is  not  known,  or  there  is  no  med 
icine  man  present  with  the  band,  the  Indians  are  very  solici 
tous  and  superstitious  about  their  sick.  The  Sioux  are  well 
versed  in  anatomy,  but  the  great  secret  of  the  causes  and  effects 
of  circulation  of  the  blood  is  not  known  among  any  of  these 
Indians.  All  they  know  is,  that  it  is  essential  to  life  that  the 
blood  should  be  kept  in  the  body.  This  they  have  discovered 
from  simple  causes,  such  as  seeing  persons  bleed  to  death  from 
wounds,  or  becoming  weak  from  some  slight  accident,  causing 
little  or  no  pain.  They  know  that  when  they  kill  an  enemy, 
unless  he  is  shot  through  the  heart  or  brain,  he  generally  lives 
till  his  blood  is  all  gone,  when  he  dies,  but  why,  they  can 
not  tell. 

The  young  people  who  get  sick  are  well  taken  care  of,  in 
nearly  every  instance,  but  the  old  men  and  women  are  often 
neglected,  because,  whenever  they  have  any  thing  ailing  them, 
the  people  of  the  tribe  think  it  is  sinful  to  try  and  cure  them. 
They  say  whenever  the  Great  Spirit  calls  for  an  aged  person, 
"whose  days  have  been  long  on  the  earth,  they  should  go." 
So  they  allow  nature,  in  such  cases,  to  take  its  course.  If  the 
aged  person  gets  well,  it  is  all  right,  but  if  he  dies,  it  is  all  the 
same.  To  effect  a  cure  for  many  maladies,  the  Indians  prac 
tice  what  is  known  as  the  "steaming  process."  The  sick 
person  is  stripped,  taken  into  the  tent  just  described,  and  the 
opening  or  door  firmly  closed,  to  exclude  all  air.  A  fire  is  then 
built  in  the  middle  of  the  lodge,  and  a  dozen  stones  heated  as 
hot  as  they  can  be  made.  Water  is  next  poured  on  these  stones, 
which  creates  a  great  deal  of  vapor.  The  sick  person  is  kept  in 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  265 

the  lodge  until  the  vapor  subsides,  when  he  is  taken  out  com 
pletely  exhausted,  and  repeatedly  plunged  into  cold  water. 
This  is  done  as  quickly  as  possible  after  taking  the  patient  from 
the  sweat-house.  The  sweat-house  is  always  built  near  the 
banks  of  a  body  of  cold  water,  so  that  the  patient  may  not  be 
subjected  to  the  air  but  a  moment  or  two  before  being  soused. 

I  became  very  unwell,  one  day,  from  the  effects  of  the  hot 
weather  and  tepid  water  we  always  had  to  drink,  having  been 
used  to  the  water  of  the  Missouri  River,  which  is  tolerably 
cold.  I  kept  in  my  teepee  all  day,  and  ate  but  little.  But  the 
following  night  I  had  a  violent  attack  of  pain  in  my  stomach, 
and  I  sent  my  squaw,  about  one  o'clock  in  the  morning,  to  the 
missionary's,  to  see  if  he  had  any  laudanum  or  cathartics.  She 
returned  with  a  small  phial  of  laudanum,  of  which  I  took  pretty 
large  doses.  My  pain  was  relieved  for  about  an  hour,  but  re 
turned  again.  All  the  next  day  I  experienced  violent  pains, 
and  I  suppose  they  would  have  killed  me  had  not  my  solicitous 
squaw  gone  over  to  the  old  medicine  man  and  told  him  of  my 
condition.  He  came  into  the  teepee  with  the  squaw,  and,  not 
heeding  my  remonstrances,  they  gathered  up  the  corners  of  the 
robe  I  was  lying  on  and  started  off  with  me. 

I  abused  the  squaw  and  medicine  man  outrageously,  and 
promised  the  squaw  a  good  thrashing  when  I  should  get  well ; 
but  the  old  medicine  man,  who  seemed  to  be  used  to  cross  pa 
tients,  only  said,  "  He  very  sick ;  he  be  better  by  and  by.  We 
sweat  him  heap."  So,  not  minding  my  ravings  and  abuse,  they 
carried  me  to  the  sweat-lodge  and  laid  me  down  on  the  ground, 
when  the  squaw  left  me  and  went  into  a  teepee,  and  brought  out 
a  burning  stick,  which  she  carried  into  the  little  house  built 
close  under  the  banks  of  the  river.  I  saw  smoke  issuing  from 
the  crevices,  and  p***sently  the  medicine  man  was  told  all  was  in 


266  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

readiness.  The  squaw  then  went  with  a  sheet-iron  kettle  to  the 
river,  and  returned  with  it  full  of  water.  She  set  the  bucket 
down  by  the  little  house,  and,  at  the  direction  of  the  old  man 
brought  a  long  lariat,  which  he  tied  around  my  body  under  the 
arms.  After  this,  he  and  the  squaw  completely  stripped  me, 
and,  holding  to  the  lariat,  the  old  man  said,  "  Get  up  now,  if 
you  can." 

I  tried,  but  I  was  too  weak  to  rise.  He  and  the  squaw  then 
pulled  me  to  my  feet,  and,  lifting  me  off  the  ground,  carried  me 
into  the  sweat-house.  Here  they  placed  me  on  my  feet  again, 
the  old  man  holding  me  up  while  the  squaw  spread  out  a 
buffalo  robe  on  the  ground.  I  was  next  laid  down  on  the  robe, 
close  by  the  fire,  and  as  soon  as  this  was  accomplished,  the  old 
man  received  the  kettle  of  cold  water  from  the  squaw,  and 
poured  it  on  the  hot  stones,  which  hissed  and  fumed  until  a 
dense  vapor  and  smoke  filled  the  place. 

The  old  man  hastily  retired,  and  the  opening  in  the  lodge  by 
which  I  had  entered  was  securely  closed  from  the  outside.  The 
hissing  and  sputtering  of  the  water  upon  the  stones  was  any 
thing  but  pleasant  to  me,  and  in  a  little  while  I  could  scarcely 
breathe,  so  dense  was  the  steam,  and  the  great  drops  of  perspi 
ration  oozed  from  every  pore;  then  my  whole  body  began  to 
grow  clammy  with  moisture,  and  I  called  out  to  the  old  man, 
whom  I  heard  walking  around  the  outside  of  the  lodge,  shak 
ing  a  couple  of  rattling  gourds,  that  I  had  enough  of  it,  and  to 
take  me  out  or  I  should  die.  He  paid  no  attention  to  my  cries, 
and  I  began  to  believe  I  really  should  die,  so  I  called  the 
squaw  to  help  me,  but  she  would  not  answer  me.  Then  I  lost 
all  consciousness,  for  how  long  I  know  not,  but  I  was  revived 
by  experiencing  a  drowning  sensation,  and  in  a  moment  felt 
myself  raised  to  the  surface  of  the  water  by  means  of  the  ropo 


BEKDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  267 

around  my  body,  one  end  of  which  the  old  man,  who  was  stand 
ing  on  the  trunk  of  a  cotton  wood  tree,  held  in  his 'hands. 

With  wonderful  rapidity  I  felt  myself  reviving  and  my  for 
mer  strength  returning,  and,  after  receiving  one  or  two  extra 
douches,  I  struck  out  for  the  shore.  I  was  seized  at  the  bank 
by  the  old  fellow,  who  helped  me  out,  and  he  and  the  squaw 
began  a  series  of  heavy  rubbing  with  a  buffalo-skin  towel,  which 
almost  curried  the  hide  off  my  back  and  ribs.  After  being 
completely  dried,  I  put  on  my  limited  wardrobe,  and,  singularly 
enough,  felt  all  right ;  in  fact,  as  well  as  if  I  had  never  expe 
rienced  a  day's  sickness  in  my  whole  life. 

I  have  many  times  since  seen  the  sweat  remedy  employed  for 
nearly  all  the  diseases  the  Indians  have,  and  in  most  instances 
it  relieved  the  sufferer.  The  exceptions  where  the  sweat-bath 
is  not  used,  is  where  the  person  is  dying,  or  a  warrior  has  been 
wounded  in  battle. 


268  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 

NIGHT  SCENES  IN  AN  INDIAN  VILLAGE — CHAUNTS  OF  THE  MEDICINE  MEN — 
SMOKING,  STORY  TELLING,  AND  DANCING WILD  YOUNG  MEN — A  STORY  TELL 
ING  PEOPLE — GOOD  LISTENERS — PRESERVATION  OF  HISTORICAL  EVENTS  AMONG 

THE  SIOUX REMARKABLE    CORRECTNESS  OF  THEIR  NARRATIVES — WHAT  NIEL 

SAYS   ABOUT  THEM — WAR   SONGS — DEEDS   OF  THE  FOREFATHERS — WHAT  THE 

YOUNG  MEN  ARE  TAUGHT — INDIAN    GIRLS — THEIR  COQUETRY CHILDHOOD  OF 

THE  INDIAN  GIRL — HER  MARRIED  LIFE   ONE   OF  SLAVERY — THE   WAR  PATH — 
CONSECRATION  OF  ANIMALS — WAR  AND  CHASE  DANCES. 

IF  you  strolled  through  an  Indian  village  at  night,  you 
would  be  sure  to  hear  the  unearthly  chanting  of  the  med 
icine  man  endeavoring  to  exorcise  some  spirit  from  a  sick 
man;  or  you  would  see  a  group  lounging  about,  whining, 
out  of  their  sacred  red-stone  pipes,  the  smoke  of  red  willow 
bark. 

A  common  sight,  too,  is  that  of  young  men  sneaking 
around  a  lodge,  and  waiting  for  the  lodge  fire  to  cease  blazing 
before  they  perpetrate  some  deed  of  mischief.  You  would  also 
hear  a  low,  wild  drumming,  and  observe  a  group  of  men  naked, 
with  the  exception  of  a  girdle  about  their  loins,  and  daubed 
with  vermilion,  engaged  in  some  of  the  grotesque  and  exciting 
dances  of  the  nation,  and  others,  again,  praying  for  the  suc 
cess  of  the  expedition  which  they  proposed  making  on  the 
morrow. 

Again  would  be  seen  and  heard  the  groups  of  story  tellers, 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  269 

and  the  occasional  song  sung  by  the  hearers  at  the  end  of  each 
narrative. 

The  Sioux  are  the  greatest  people  in  the  world  for  story 
telling,  and  their  attention,  when  others  are  telling  stories,  ia 
quite  as  remarkable  as  their  colloquial  powers.  Some  of  their 
tales  and  legends  are  very  beautiful,  and  many  of  them  are 
marvelous.  1  shall  find  occasion  to  repeat  a  few  of  them  in 
another  part  of  this  work. 

As  before  related,  the  manner  in  which  historical  events  and 
traditionary  legends  are  preserved  among  the  Indians,  is  by 
their  old  men  retaining  the  facts  in  their  memory ;  and  occa 
sionally  in  the  cool  evenings  of  summer,  when  the  people 
are  lying  around  their  villages,  without  having  any  hunt- 
ting  or  warfare  on  their  hands,  telling  them  to  listening 
groups. 

The  Indians  are  possessed  of  peculiarly  retentive  memories, 
and  are  always  respectful  and  attentive  listeners  to  the  narra 
tives  of  their  old  men.  A  tale  once  heard  is  remembered  by 
the  hearers  for  years,  and,  in  like  manner,  is  handed  down  by 
them  to  another  generation.  Thus,  events  of  many  centuries 
are  transmitted  to  posterity,  and  all  the  facts  are  remarkably 
well  preserved,  and,  what  is  still  more  wonderful,  are  nar 
rated  without  comparatively  any  change  from  the  original 
version. 

As  Neil,  the  historian,  says,  "  You  might  enter  a  Da 
kota  village  at  midnight,  and  you  would  be  almost  sure 
to  see  some  few  huddled  around  the  fire  of  a  teepee,  listen 
ing  to  the  tale  of  an  old  warrior  who  has  often  been  en 
gaged  in  bloody  conflicts  with  their  old  and  present  enemies, 
the  whites;"  or  you  might  hear  some  legendary  tale  of 
deeds  and  events  of  the  forefathers  of  the  nation,  who  lived 


270  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

several  hundred  years  before  white  men  were  known  to  tht 
Indians. 

The  earliest  songs  to  which  an  Indian  boy  listens  are  those 
of  war,  and  his  delight  is  in  hearing,  during  the  long  sum 
mer  evenings,  stories  of  bloodshed,  and  the  deeds  his  forefathers 
did  before  he  was  born. 

As  soon  as  the  child  begins  to  walk  about,  if  a  male,  he  is, 
as  has  already  been  said,  furnished  with  a  little  bow  and  some 
blunt-headed  arrows,  which  are  the  only  playthings  he  is 
allowed. 

The  little  girls  are  early  instructed  in  the  art  of  paint 
ing  their  faces,  ornamenting  their  ears  with  rings,  their  necks 
with  beads,  and  their  little  moccasins  with  porcupine  quills. 
They  soon  become  adepts  in  the  art  of  coquetry,  and  cause 
many  a  bashful  youth  to  rue  the  day  of  his  birth. 

The  days  of  her  childhood  are  the  only  happy  or  pleasant 
days  the  Indian  girl  ever  knows.  As  soon  as  she  is  wedded 
to  a  warrior,  her  life  of  toil  and  drudgery  begins,  which  ends 
only  at  her  grave.  This  subject  will  be  treated  of  more  fully 
in  a  subsequent  chapter.  With  the  boy  it  is  quite  different. 
The  first  thing  he  is  taught,  as  being  truly  noble  and  manly, 
is  taking  a  scalp,  and  he  is  eager  until  it  is  done.  At  the  age 
of  sixteen  he  is  frequently  on  the  war  path.  When  his  friends 
think  he  has  arrived  at  the  proper  age  to  go  to  war,  he  is  pre 
sented  with  weapons,  one  giving  him  a  bow,  another  arrows, 
another  a  knife,  and  still  another  a  horse.  He  makes  his  own 
war-club.  He  then  consecrates  certain  animals,  or  parts  of 
animals,  which  he  vows  never  to  eat  until  he  has  slain  an  en 
emy.  After  he  has  killed  one  enemy,  he  is  at  liberty  to  eat  a 
certain  portion  of  the  animal  from  which  he  agreed  to  abstain. 
If  he  kills  another  enemy,  the  prohibition  is  taken  off  another 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  271 

part,  until  finally,  by  deeds  of  bravery,  he  has  emancipated 
himself  from  his  oath. 

Before  young  men  go  out  on  a  war  party,  they  endeavor  to 
propitiate  their  patron  deity  by  a  feast,  music,  and  dancing. 
During  the  night,  before  they  are  to  start,  they  perform  the 
"  Shield  Dance,"  and  follow  the  wild  performance  by  feasting, 
drumming,  dancing,  and  singing,  interspersed  with  fierce  shrieks 
and  yells. 


272  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTER   XXXIX. 

A  SIOUX  DOCTOR — DERIVATION  OF  THE  TERM  MEDICINE  MAN — SUPERSTITION 
ABOUT  TAILS — SUCKING  DISEASE  OUT  OF  A  PATIENT — SENDING  FOR  THE  DOC 
TOR — WAR  PROPHETS — FUNNY  WAY  OF  VISITING  A  PATIENT — SYMBOLS  AND 
CHARMS — CASTING  THE  BAD  SPIRIT  OUT  OF  A  SICK  MAN — A  WATER-CURE — THE 
IMAGE — SHOOTING  THE  IMAGE — PERILOUS  POSTURE  OF  A  WOMAN — BURYING 
THE  IMAGE — WA-KAN  TON-KA — ANOTHER  KIND  OF  INDIAN  DOCTOR — THE 

PROPHETS— THEIR    FUNCTIONS   AND  EGOTISM — RECEPTION  OF  WAR   PARTIES 

PAINTING  AND  DYEING  SCALPS — DANCING  THE  SCALPS — HOW  THE  CERE 
MONY  IS  PERFORMED — GOURD-RATTLES — A  MISTAKEN  THEORY  ABOUT  SCALP 

DANCING WHAT     BECOMES     OF    THE     SCALP     AFTER      IT     IS     DANCED — HOW 

THE  WARRIOR  WEARS  IT — THE  EAGLE' S  FEATHER  WITH  A  RED  SPOT — 
THE  RED  AND  BLACK  HAND — THE  MEDICINE  MEN  OF  THE  MJDEWANKANTON- 
WAN  TRIBE — FREEMASONRY  OF  THE  OANKTAHEE — IMITATION  OF  A  MEDICINE 
MAN — A  SEVERE  ORDEAL — DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  CEREMONY — CHANTS  OF  THE 
MEDICINE  MEN — THEIR  TRANSLATION — AN  ABSURD  CONCEIT — WHAT  A  MEDI 
CINE  BAG  IS  MADE  OUT  OF THE  CONTENTS  OF  ONE  EXPOSED. 

UNTIL  the  past  few  years,  the  Sionx,  whenever  any  sick 
ness  happened,  believed  they  were  possessed  by  the  spirit 
of  some  snake,  bird,  or  animal.  The  Crow  story  of  the  super 
stitions  of  that  tribe,  as  narrated  in  this  book,  shows  that,  if  the 
Sioux  have  in  time  come  to  banish  such  erroneous  beliefs  about 
animals,  insects,  and  reptiles,  taking  possession  of  people's 
bodies,  the  Crows  still  hang  to  it,  and  hence,  their  superstition 
about  "  tails  "  of  animals,  which  are  said,  and  believed,  to  in 
habit  the  stomach. 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  273 

The  medicine  men  of  the  Sioux  are  supposed  to  have  unlim 
ited  strength  and  suction  power  of  the  mouth,  so  that  by  sucking, 
alone,  they  can  draw  away  the  evil  spirit  from  the  sick  man, 
and  thus  cure  him. 

Before  going  any  farther,  it  will,  however,  be  best  to  explain 
what  kind  of  fellow  the  Sioux  medicine  man  is.  Any  thing 
mysterious  and  wonderful,  or  for  which  he  can  not  account,  is 
always  called  Wa-can,  or  Wa-kah,  (medicine).  The  early 
French  explorers  called  a  doctor  "  medicin"  and  all  Indians 
have  thereby  called  their  doctors  "  medicine  men,"  or  Wa-ka, 
Pa-zhir-ta,  We-cha-sa  (spirit  medicine  man).  "A  medicine 
man  "  means,  then,  in  the  broadest  Indian  sense,  "  a  doctor  " 
who  calls  to  his  aid  charms  and  incantations  to  cure  the  sick. 
The  medicine  men  are  divided  into  conjurers,  or  spirit  doctors, 
and  war  prophets.  These  latter  are  greatly  feared  by  all  the 
tribes. 

They  have  some  very  curious  customs  and  ceremonies,  which 
to  me  seemed  ridiculous,  but  my  good  sense  and  knowledge 
of  what  was  best  for  me,  never  allowed  me  to  witness  any  of 
their  freaks  of  foolishness,  except  with  a  grave  countenance, 
and  apparent  respect  and  confidence  in  the  power  and  ability 
of  the  medicine  man  to  do  whatever  he  wished.  I  have  seen 
several  cases  of  sickness  under  the  hands  of  medicine  men,  and 
a  description  here  of  the  general  mode  of  procedure  may  not 
be  uninteresting. 

The  doctor  is  always  to  be  found  seated  in  the  medicine 
lodge,  unless  attending  a  feast,  or  dance,  or  when  out  of  an 
evening  walking  for  his  health.  As  he  never  sends  around 
his  "  bills  for  professional  services,"  he  must  receive  his  fees 
in  advance.  Some  one  is  sent  to  notify  him  that  he  is  wanted, 

and  the  request  is  accompained  by  a  present  of  a  pony,  blanket, 

24 


274  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

or  something  useful  and  valuable,  for  dress  or  ornament.  The 
messenger  sometimes  has  a  gourd-rattle,  which  he  shakes  at  the 
medicine  man's  door  till  he  comes  out ;  again  he  takes  a  pipe, 
lights  it,  goes  into  the  medicine  man's  lodge,  and  hands  him 
the  pipe ;  then  sits  down  in  front  of  him,  and  rocking  back 
ward  and  forward,  cries  and  groans,  as  though  he  were  sick. 
Again,  the  messenger  strips  himself  to  his  breech-cloth  and 
moccasins,  and  carries  the  gourd-rattle  in  his  hand.  On  en 
tering  the  lodge,  he  shakes  the  rattle  vigorously,  walks  up  to 
the  medicine  man,  and  unceremoniously  kicks  him.  He  then 
jumps  for  the  door,  and  having  gained  the  outside,  shakes  his 
rattle  and  runs  for  the  sick  person's  teepee  as  fast  as  he  can — 
the  medicine  man  following  close  after  him.  If  the  medicine 
man  overtakes  the  messenger  in  his  chase,  and  kicks  him,  the 
doctor  is  at  liberty  to  return  to  his  teepee  without  having  seen 
the  sick  person,  even  if  the  messenger  is  overtaken  within  a 
few  feet  of  the  sick  man's  door.  The  sick  person  then  sends 
another  messenger,  and  so  keeps  on  sending  runners,  with 
presents,  until  one  is  fast  enough  to  outrun  the  medicine  man 
and  reach  the  sick  lodge  first.  As  soon  as  the  messenger 
beats  the  doctor  to  the  sick  man's  teepee,  the  physician  enters, 
but,  before  going  into  the  teepee,  he  strips  himself,  and  wears 
only  his  breech-cloth  and  moccasins.  He  now  sends  to  his 
lodge,  where,  in  front  of  the  doorway  outside,  hangs  a  large 
rattle  of  the  kind  just  mentioned,  only  this  one  is  covered  with 
painted  heiroglyphics,  and  ornamented  with  eagle's  feathers  at 
the  handle.  The  rattle,  or  gourd,  with  the  drum,  medicine 
shield,  and  box  containing  roots,  teeth,  bear's  and  other 
animal's  claws,  hangs  on  a  pole  outside  the  door  of  every  medi 
cine  lodge  in  an  Indian  village.  The  rattle  is  brought  to  the 
sick  man's  teepee,  and  the  doctor  begins  to  shake  it,  and  sing 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  275 

in  a  wild,  chanting  voice.  This  he  continues  for  a  few  min 
utes,  when  he  gets  down  on  his  hands  and  knees  and  crawls 
up  to  the  patient.  He  hangs  over  the  breast  of  the  patient  a 
moment  or  two,  and  then  rises  to  his  feet,  gags  and  makes 
ugly  faces,  as  if  he  was  sick  at  his  stomach  and  trying  to 
vomit.  Presently  he  goes  to  a  bowl  of  water  and  puts  his 
whole  face  into  it,  and,  by  blowing,  causes  bubbles  to  rise  thick 
around  his  face.  He  makes  all  believe  (for  it  is  their  business 
to  believe)  that  he  has  blown  into  the  bowl  of  water  the  spirit 
which  has  been  troubling  the  patient.  The  doctor  next  care 
fully  examines  the  water  while  carrying  on  a  slow  and  almost 
inaudible  chaunt,  and  at  length  decides  what  species  of  animal 
has  possessed  the  patient.  He  now  makes  out  of  bark  an 
image  of  the  animal  he  has  discerned  in  the  bowl,  and  plunges 
it  in  a  kettle  of  water,  set  outside  the  door  of  the  teepee.  The 
animal  of  bark  is  to  be  shot,  and  two  or  three  Indians  are  in 
waiting,  with  loaded  guns,  ready  to  kill  it,  whenever  the  doctor 
tells  them  to  do  so.  To  make  sure  that  the  conjuring  has  the 
desired  effect,  a  woman  must  stand  astride  the  kettle,  with  her 
dress  raised  as  high  as  the  knees.  The  executioners  are  in 
structed  how  to  act  by  the  doctor,  and  as  soon  as  he  makes  his 
appearance  out  of  the  lodge,  they  all  fire  into  the  kettle,  and 
blow  the  little  bark  image  to  pieces.  The  woman  then  steps 
aside,  and  the  doctor  goes  to  the  bowl  on  his  hands  and  knees, 
and  commences  blubbering  in  the  water  as  he  did  in  the  teepee. 
While  this  is  going  on,  the  woman  has  to  jump  on  the  doctor's 
back  with  her  feet,  and  stand  there  for  a  moment ;  when  she 
gets  off,  and  as  soon  as  he  has  finished  his  incantations,  the 
woman  takes  him  by  the  hair  of  the  head  and  pulls  him  back 
into  the  sick  man's  lodge.  If  there  are  any  pieces  of  the  little 
bark  image  left,  after  it  is  shot,  they  are  buried  under  ground. 


276  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

If  this  does  not  cure  the  patient,  a  similar  ceremony  is  per 
formed;  but  some  other  animal  is  shaped  out,  each  time,  until 
the  patient  gets  well  or  dies;  and  if  he  dies,  the  conclusion  is 
arrived  at,  that  the  Great  Spirit,  or  Wa-kan  Ton-ka,  was  the  in 
habiting  one  in  the  patient,  and,  of  course,  could  not  be  cast  out. 

There  is  another  class  of  Indian  medicine  men  I  have  as  yet 
barely  mentioned,  called  prophets,  or  priests,  who,  by  relating 
stories  of  dreams  they  have  had,  or  pretended  to  have  had,  and 
by  making  exciting  speeches  or  exhortations,  endeavor  to  incite 
the  tribes  to  war  against  each  other. 

If  a  party  is  successful  in  securing  scalps,  they  generally 
paint  their  faces  black  and  come  home  wild  with  delight.  As 
they  approach  the  town  or  village,  the  people  run  out  to  meet 
them  and  hear  the  news.  They  then  conduct  the  warriors  to 
the  council  house,  when  the  war  prophet,  or  medicine  man,  meets 
them  at  the  door.  He  assumes  great  importance,  and  seems  to 
say,  "Didn't  I  tell  you  so?  I  brought  you  all  this  good 
fortune,  and  the  credit  is  mine."  The  scalps  are  then  pre 
pared  for  exhibition,  by  being  stretched  on  a  small  willow  hoop 
or  ring,  and  painted  red  on  the  flesh  side.  They  are  next  tied 
to  the  top  of  a  long  pole,  and  set  in  the  ground  on  some  open 
space,  suitable  for  accommodating  a  dance,  in  which  the.  whole 
tribe  can  engage.  If  the  scalp  is  a  man's,  they  fasten  an 
eagle's  feather  to  the  hair ;  but  if  it  is  a  woman's,  no  ornament 
of  any  kind  is  attached  to  it.  The  warriors  who  were  on  the 
expedition,  in  which  the  scalp  was  taken,  form  a  large  or  small 
circle  around  the  pole,  and  dance.  If  any  of  their  party  have 
been  killed,  an  equal  number  of  other  warriors  who  remained 
at  home,  are  selected  for  the  dance,  and  their  faces  painted 
black  from  the  eyes  to  the  edge  of  the  hair.  They  are  then 
placed  nearest  to  the  pole,  and  do  not  dance,  but  stand  per- 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  277 

fectly  still.  They  represent,  the  Indians  say,  the  dead  men 
who  fell  in  the  battle  where  the  scalps  were  taken.  The  war 
party  now  form  a  circle  outside  of  the  representatives  of  the 
dead,  and  the  villagers  form  another  circle  outside  of  the  war 
party.  Then  the  squaws,  in  two  circles,  are  outside  of  the 
warriors — 'the  oldest  squaws  forming  the  inner  circle.  The 
members  of  the  war  party  have  each  a  gourd-rattle,  or  a  small 
drum,  which  they  shake  and  play  incessantly,  singing  all  the 
time  the  scalp  song,  which  varies  in  almost  evsry  tribe.  I  have 
heard  three  or  four  different  scalp  songs  among  the  Sioux,  and 
believe  there  are  several  which  I  have  never  heard.  Some 
writer  has  stated,  that  "if  a  scalp  is  taken  in  the  summer,  the 
Indians  dance,  and  celebrate  the  event  until  the  leaves  fall,  and 
if  it  is  taken  in  winter,  they  dance  until  the  leaves  come  in 
spring."  This  may  be  so  with  the  Pawnees,  but  it  is  not  the 
case  among  the  Sioux.  The  scalp  is  danced  for  only  three 
days  and  nights,  the  Indians  stopping  to  feast  and  rest,  a  few 
at  a  time  for  some  moments,  and  then  renewing  the  dance. 
At  the  end  of  three  days,  the  scalp  is  taken  down  and  claimed 
by  the  warrior  who  took  it  from  the  wearer's  head.  The 
owner  hangs  it  up  in  his  teepee  as  a  proof  of  his  bravery,  and 
often  wears  it  attached  to  his  belt,  or,  if  he  has  one  there 
already,  hangs  one  on  each  side  of  his  body. 

An  eagle's  feather,  with  a  red  spot  painted  on  it,  worn  by  a 
warrior  in  the  village,  denotes,  that  on  the  last  war-path  he 
killed  an  enemy,  and  for  every  additional  enemy  he  has  slain, 
he  carries  another  feather,  painted  with  an  additional  red  spot 
about  the  size  of  a  silver  quarter. 

A  red  hand  painted  on  a  warrior's  blanket,  denotes  that  he 
has  been  wounded  by  the  enemy,  and  a  black  one,  that  he  has 
been  unfortunate  in  some  way. 


278  BELDEN  :   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

The  medicine  men,  in  the  M'dewankantonwan  tribe,  have 
a  sort  of  freemasonry  among  them,  of  which  they  are  the 
founders,  and  this  tribe  is  the  only  one  of  all  the  many  tribes 
that  can  initiate  a  warrior  to  the  mysteries,  superstitions,  be 
liefs,  and  rites,  which  all  real  medicine  men  are  supposed  to 


In  addition  to  their  many  other  secret  ceremonies,  the 
M'dewankantonkas  initiate  a  candidate  for  the  honors  of 
"  M.  D."  as  follows  :  The  candidate  is  first  introduced  to  the 
chief  medicine  men  by  participating  in  "  the  medicine  dance." 
This  dance  is  said  to  have  been  instituted  by  Oanktahee,  the 
patron  of  all  medicine  men.  The  editor  of  the  "Dakota 
Friend,"  says  truly,  in  his  description  of  the  dance :  •  "  When 
a  member  is  to  be  received  into  this  society,  it  is  his  duty  to 
take  a  hot  bath,  four  days  in  succession."  In  the  mean 
time,  some  of  the  elders  of  the  society  instruct  him  in  the 
mysteries  of  the  medicine  and  Wam-noo-hah  (shell  in  the 
throat).  He  is  also  provided  with  a  dish  (Wajate)  and  spoon. 
On  the  side  of  the  dish,  is  sometimes  carved  the  head  of  some 
voracious  animal,  in  which  resides  the  spirit  of  "  Eo-yah  "  (an 
abbreviation  for  "  Glutton  God  ").  This  dish  is  always  carried 
by  its  owner  to  the  medicine  feast,  and  it  is  his  duty,  ordina 
rily,  to  eat  all  which  is  served  up  in  it.  "Gray  Iron"  (a 
noted  chief  of  former  times),  had  a  dish,  which  was  given  him 
at  the  time  of  his  initiation,  on  the  bottom  of  which  was 
carved  a  bear,  complete..  The  candidate  is  instructed  with 
what  paints,  and  in  what  manner,  he  shall  paint  himself, 
which  must  always  be  the  same,  when  he  appears  in  the  dance. 
There  is  supernatural  virtue  in  this  paint,  and  the  manner  in 
which  it  is  applied;  and  those  who  have  not  been  furnished 
with  a  better,  by  the  regular  war  prophets,  wear  it  into  battle 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  279 

as  a  life-preserver.  The  bag  contains,  besides  the  claws  of 
animals,  the  "Toanwan"  (influence  or  power),  with  which 
they  can,  it  is  believed,  inflict  painful  diseases  and  death  on 
whomsoever  they  choose. 

The  candidate  being  thus  duly  prepared  for  initiation,  and 
having  made  the  necessary  offerings  for  the  benefit  of  the 
institution,  on  the  evening  of  the  day  previous  to  the  dance,  a 
lodge  is  prepared,  and  from  ten  to  twenty  of  its  more  sub 
stantial  members  pass  the  night  in  singing,  dancing,  and 
feasting.  In  the  morning,  the  tent  is  opened  for  the  dance. 
After  a  few  appropriate  ceremonies,  preliminary  to  the  grand 
operation,  the  candidate  takes  his  place  on  a  pile  of  blankets 
which  he  has  contributed  for  the  occasion,  and  is  naked,  except 
the  breech-cloth  and  moccasins,  duly  painted  and  prepared  for 
the  mysterious  operation. 

An  elder  having  been  stationed  in  the  rear  of  the  novice,  the 
master  of  the  ceremonies,  with  his  knee  and  hip-joints  bent  to 
an  angle  of  about  forty-five  degrees,  advances,  in  an  unsteady, 
unnatural  step,  with  his  bag  (containing  medicine)  in  his  hand, 
uttering,  "  Heen  !  Heen !  Heen  !  "  with  great  energy,  and  rais 
ing  the  bag  near  a  painted  spot  on  the  breast  of  the  candidate, 
gives  the  discharge,  the  person  stationed  in  the  rear  gives  him 
a  push  forward  at  the  same  instant,  and  as  he  falls  headlong, 
throws  the  blankets  over  him.  Then,  while  the  dancers  gather 
around  him  and  chant,  the  master  throws  off  the  covering,  and, 
chewing  a  piece  of  the  bone  of  the  Oanktahee,  spirts  over  him, 
and  he  revives  and  resumes  a  sitting  posture.  All  then  return 
to  their  seats  except  the  master;  he  approaches,  and,  making 
indescribable  noises,  pats  upon  the  breast  of  the  novice,  till 
the  latter,  in  agonizing  throes,  throws  up  the  wamha  (or  shell), 

which  falls  from  his  mouth  upon  the  bag  which  had  been  pre- 
17 


280  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

viously  spread  before  him  for  that  purpose.  Life  being 
completely  restored,  and  with  the  mysterious  shell  in  his  open 
hand,  the  new-made  member  passes  around  and  exhibits  it  to 
all  the  members  and  to  the  wondering  bystanders,  and  the  cere 
monies  of  the  initiation  are  closed.  The  dance  continues, 
interspersed  with  harmlessly  shooting  each  other,  smoking,  and 
refreshments,  till  they  have  danced  to  the  music  of  four  sets 
of  singers.  Besides  vocal  music,  they  make  use  of  the  drum 
and  gourd-shell  rattle. 

The  following  chants,  which  are  used  in  the  dance,  will  best 
exhibit  the  character  of  this  mysterious  initiation  of  the 
Oanktahee : 


"  Wa-du-la  o-na  me-ca-ga, 
Wa-du-la  o-na  me-ca-ga, 
Nim-ne  ya-ta  e-te  wa-can  de  magu 
Ton-ka  ixdan. 


n. 

"  Ton-ka  ixdan  pe-gi-hoo-ta  Wa-c'a  me-ca-ga, 

He  we-ca-ke. 

Min-ne  ya-ta  (M-ca-ga  wa-ka  ke  magu  ye, 
Ton-ka  ixdan  e-te  ke  u-win-ta  wo, 
Wa-hoo-to-pa  yu-ha  e-te  u-win-ta  wo." 

(Translation.) 

I. 

"  He  created  it  for  me  inclosed  in  red  down, 
He  created  it  for  me  inclosed  in  red  down, 
He  in  the  water  with  a  mysterious  visage  gave  me  this, 
My  grandfather. 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF.  281 

n. 

"  My  grandfather  created  for  me  mysterious  medicine, 

That  is  true. 

The  mysterious  being  in  the  water  gave  it  to  me ; 
Stretch  out  your  hand  before  the  face  of  my  grandfather, 
Having  a  quadruped*  stretch  out  your  hand  before  him." 

The  medicine-bag  is  made  of  the  skin  of  an  otter,  fox,  or 
gome  other  animal  of  long  shape — sometimes  a  skunk  skin, 
containing  certain  articles  held  sacred.f 

*  Quadruped  is  the  only  word  we  can  substitute  for  "  Wa-hoo-to-pa," 
which  is  "four"  (to-pa)  "legs"  (Wa-hoo). 

f  A  warrior,  leaving  the  village  to  go  on  a  perilous  hunting  i rip,  left  his 
pouch  with  a  friend  of  the  writer.  The  owner  having  died,  he  retained  it, 
and  being  at  his  teepee  one  day,  it  was  at  my  request  opened.  The  con 
tents  were  some  dried  mud,  a  dead  beetle,  a  few  roots,  and  a  scrap  of 
an  old  letter,  which  he  had  probably  picked  up  near  some  old  fort. 

25 


282  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTER   XL. 

OLD  INDIAN  DEEDS — RASCALITY  OF  WHITE  MEN — JONATHAN  CARVER'S  DEED — 
HOW  THE  INDIANS  ARE  CHEATED  OUT  OF  THEIR  LANDS — INDIAN  SIGNATURES — 
DEEDS  AND  CONVEYANCES  TO  DUCHARME— CHEAP  LANDS — BITTER  RECOLLEC 
TIONS — WHY  THE  SIOUX  ARE  DISTRUSTFUL  OF  THE  WHITE  MEN. 

A  S,  no  doubt,  nearly  all  the  readers  of  these  pages  are  ig- 
-^^-  norant  of  the  modus  operandi  by  which  an  Indian  sale 
or  transfer  of  land  is  made,  and  as  I  have  been  at  considera 
ble  trouble  to  collect  every  thing  novel  or  entertaining  about 
Indians  for  this  book,  I  will  here  insert  some  verbatim  copies 
of  deeds  made  long  ago  by  the  savages  to  certain  white  persons. 
That  rare  old  historian,  Neill,  has  given  us  much  that  is  curi 
ous,  but  he  has  by  no  means  "covered  the  ground;  and  what  I 
give  will  at  least  have  the  merit  of  being  new. 

The  following  is  a  true  copy  of  the  great  Carver  deed,  over 
which  Congress  wrangled  for  months  in  1806,  and  which  they 
finally  decided  to  be  a  valid  conveyance : 

CARVER   DEED. 

To  Jonathan  Carver,  a  chief  under  the  most  mighty  and 
potent  George  the  Third,  King  of  the  English,  and  other  na 
tions,  the  fame  of  whose  courageous  warriors  has  reached  our 
ears,  and  has  been  more  fully  told  us  by  our  good  brother 
Jonathan  aforesaid,  whom  we  rejoice  to  see  come  among  us 


BELDEN  :    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  283 

and  bring  us  good  news  from  his  country,  "We,  chiefs  of  the 
Nandowissies,  who  have  hereto  set  our  seals,  do,  by  these 
presents,  for  ourselves  and  heirs  forever,  in  return  for  the 
many  presents,  and  other  good  services  done  by  the  said  Jona 
than  to  ourselves  and  allies,  give,  grant,  and  convey  to  him, 
the  said  Jonathan,  and  to  his  heirs  and  assigns  forever,  the 
whole  of  a  certain  tract  or  territory  of  land  bounded  as  fol 
lows  (viz.):  From  the  Fall  of  St.  Anthony,  running  on  the 
east  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  nearly  south-east,  as  far  as  the 
south  end  of  Lake  Pepin,  where  the  Chippeway  River  joins 
the  Mississippi,  and  from  thence  eastward  five  days'  travel, 
accounting  twenty  English  miles  per  day,  and  from  thence 
north  six  days'  travel,  at  twenty  English  miles  per  day,  and 
from  thence  again  to  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  on  a  direct, 
straight  line.  We  do,  for  ourselves,  heirs,  and  assigns  forever, 
give  unto  the  said  Jonathan,  his  heirs  and  assigns  forever,  all 
the  said  lands,  with  all  the. trees,  rocks,  and  rivers  therein,  re^ 
serving  for  ourselves  and  heirs  the  sole  liberty  of  hunting  and 
fishing  on  land  not  planted  or  improved  by  the  said  Jonathan, 
his  heirs  and  assigns;  to  which  we  have  affixed  our  respective 
seals,  at  the  Great  Cave,  May  the  first,  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  sixty-seven. 


HAW-NO-PAW-JA-TIN. 

^ 

His  Mark. 

0-TOH-TON-GOOM-LISH-E-AW. 

His  Mark. 


284  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

In  order  to  show  in  what  way,  and  for  what  consideration 
or  price,  Indian  titles  and  claims  were  procured  by  the  early 
French  traders  and  settlers  in  the  north-west  of  Wisconsin,  the 
following  extract  is  made  from  -the  records  of  Brown  County, 
of  that  State  (Record-book  B,  pp.  110,  111): 

(No.  1.) 

En  mille  sept  cent  quatre  vingt  treize,  trouvent  present  Wa- 
bisipine  et  le  Tabac  noir,  lesquels  ont  voluntairement  abandonnez 
et  ce*dez  a  Monsieur  Dominique  Ducharme,  depuis  le  haut  de 
portage  de  Cacalin  j  usque  du  bout  de  le  Prairie  d'enbas,  sur 
quarante  arpens  de  profondeur;  et  sur  Pautre  cote  vis  &  vis  le 
dit  portage,  quatre  arpens  de  large,  sur  trent  de  profondeur. 
Lesquels  vendeurs  se  sont  trouv£s  contents,  et  satisfaits  pour 
deux  barrils  de  Rum.  Enfois  de  quois,  ils  ont  faits  leur 
marques  le  vieux  Wabisipine  etant  aveugle,  les  Tremoins  ont 
fait  sa  marque  pour  lui. 

J.  HARBISON, 


J.  HARBISON,  ^ 

LAMBERT  MACAULAY,  /  Tremmns- 


Marque  de  Wabisipine. 
De  la  Attribute  de 


Marque  du  Tabac  noir. 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  285 

(No.  2.) 

Des  servenants  aiant  reclaims  droit  qu'ils  avoient  aussi  dans 
le  Portage,  ont  vendues  aussi  leurs  pretensions,  et  guarranti  de 
touts  troubles.  Ont  acceptur  pour  leur  part,  cinque  galons  de 
Rum,  lesquels  se  sont  trouves  contents  et  satisfaite.  En  fois  de 
quois  ont  fait  leur  marques. 

S.  HARRISON,  Tremoin. 

L'AIGLB. 

PE  CA  MBS.       X^X  /  SON  FIL3. 

— \    \.            ^^f 
CHE  MES.  \    ,/ iff        BITTE. 


W 


L'EGLEET.     C  p.  I    I    \  "n    LE  CASTRE. 


(No.  3.) 

au?  Portage  du  Cacalin  PAnn^e  de  notre  Seigneur  mil 
sept  cent  quatre  vingt  seize;  le  31me  jour  de  Juillet,  en  mil  cep 
cent  quatre  vingt  dix  sept  pour  parte  du  portage  une  barrille 
rum. 

AOUT  8. 

En  mil  cep  cent  quatre  vingt  dix  huit,  un  barrille  de  rum 
mele  pour  contenter  les  filles  souscritant. 

JUILLET  16. 
Et  en  quatre  vingt  dix  neuf  un  barrille  de  rum  meles  d  me 


286 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 


sines  pour  contenter  les  differan  entre  eux.     Lesquels  se  son 
trouve  comptemps  et  satisfaite. 

D.  DUCHARME. 


CASTOR. 


LE  TABA  NOIR. 

WACHITTE. 

WABISIPINE. 


LE  BUEUR. 
D'L'AIGLE. 

[Translation  of  the  above  Deeds  and  Entries.] 

(No.  1.) 

In  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-three,  are  found 
present  Wabisipine  and  the  Black  Tobacco,  who  have  volunta 
rily  given  up  and  ceded  to  Mr.  Dominique  Ducharme  from  the 
head  of  the  portage  of  Kakalin  to  the  end  of  the  prairie  below, 
by  forty  arpens  in  depth;  and  on  the  other  side,  opposite  the 
said  portage,  four  arpens  wide,  by  thirty  in  depth.  The  said 
vendors  are  contented  and  satisfied  for  two  barrels  of  Rum.  In 
faith  of  which,  they  have  made  their  marks.  The  old  Wabisi 
pine  being  blind,  the  witnesses  have  made  his  mark  for  him. 

J.  HARBISON,  i 

LAMBERT  MACAULAY,/ 


Mark  of  the  Wabisipine  of  the  attribute  of  the  Eagle. 
Mark  of  the  Black  Tobacco. 


BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  287 

(No.  2.) 

The  undersigned,  having  claimed  a  right  which  they  also 
have  in  the  portage,  have  also  sold  their  claims,  and  warranted 
from  all  troubles.  They  have  accepted,  for  their  part,  five  gal 
lons  of  Rum,  with  which  they  find  themselves  content  and  sat 
isfied.  In  faith  of  which,  they  have  made  their  marks. 

J.  HAKRISON,  Witness. 

THE  EAGLE. 

PE  CA  MES.  HIS  SON. 

CHE  MES.  BITTE. 

THE  EAGLET.  THE  BEAVER 

• 

(No.  3.) 

Ratified  at  the  Portage  of  the  Kakalin,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-six;  the  31st 
day  of  July,  in  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-seven, 
on  account  of  the  portage,  one  barrel  of  rum. 

AUGUST  8. 

In  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-eight,  one  barrel 
of  rum,  mixed,  to  content  the  sons  subscribing. 

JULY  16. 

And  in  ninety-nine,  one  barrel  of  rum,  mixed  d  me  sines,  to 
settle  the  difference  between  them,  with  which  they  find  them 
selves  content  and  satisfied 

THE  EAGLE.        THE  BLACK  TOBACCO.        D.  DUCHARME. 
WACHITTE.  THE  BEAVER. 

WABISIPINE. 
THE  DRINKER. 


288  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF 

Land  was  cheap  in  those  days,  and  the  Indians  of  the  Sioux 
tribe  often  sold  theirs  for  a  mere  trifle — such  as  a  keg  of  pow 
der,  or  a  few  gallons  of  whisky.  These  swindles  afterward 
caused  great  dissatisfaction,  and  the  rascality  of  the  whites  was 
remembered  against  them  even  to  the  third  and  fourth  genera 
tion.  So  well  has  the  history  of  these  transactions  been  pre 
served,  that  the  Sioux  yet  know  all  about  them,  and,  to  this 
day,  speak  bitterly  of  the  folly  of  their  fathers  in  allowing  the 
white  men  to  cheat  them  out  of  their  ancient  hunting-grounds. 
It  is  this  that  causes  the  Sioux  to  be  suspicious  of  the  whites, 
and  to  always  sign  treaties  with  the  greatest  reluctance. 


BELDEN:   THE  WHITE   CHIEF.  289 


CHAPTER    XLI. 

HOW  THE  INDIANS  COMPUTE  TIME— NO  MONTHS  IN  THEIR  TEARS— NUMBER  AND 
DESIGNATION  OP  THEIR  MOONS — A  SUPERSTITION  ABOUT  THE  EVIL  SPIRITS 
EATING  THE  MOON  UP — HOW  THE  GREAT  SPIRIT  REPLACES  IT — THE  SIOUX 
ALPHABET — PRONUNCIATION  OF  THE  LETTERS — THE  DOG  DANCE — WHY  IT  IS 
SELDOM  PERFORMED — MANNER  OF  PERFORMING  THE  CEREMONY — EATING  RAW 

DOG WHAT    PART   THE    SQUAWS   GET — IN    WHOSE  HONOR  DOG  DANCES  ARE 

MADE — THE  FISH  DANCE — ORIGIN  OF  THE  CEREMONY — THE  SIOUX  CHIEF — A 
SINGULAR  DREAM — MODE  OF  CONDUCTING  THE  FISH  DANCE — NO  ONE  BUT 
CHIEFS  ENTITLED  TO  SO  GREAT  AN  HONOR. 

rilHE  Indians  compute  their  time  very  much  as  white  men 
-•-  do,  only  they  use  moons  instead  of  months  to  designate 
the  seasons,  each  moon  answering  to  some  month  in  our  cal 
endar.  The  word  "  we "  in  the  Indian  tongue  always  means 
"  moon,"  though  it  is  often  transposed  in  their  sentences.* 

I. — JANUARY. 
We-ter'-i— "The  Hard  Moon." 

IL — FEBRUARY. 
We-ca-ta-we'-- "  The  Raccoon  Moon." 

III.— MARCH.  , 

Ees-ta'-we-ca'ya-za'we— ' '  Sore-Eye  Moon. " 

*Many  Indians  add  one  moon  to  every  twelve,  which  they  call  the 
"lost  moon."  A  day  is  a  "sleep,"  and  half  a  day  mid-noon,  which  is  in 
dicated  by  pointing  at  the  sky  over  one's  head. 


290  BELDEN  :    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

TV.—  APRIL. 

M'1-guV-ka-de-we—  "  The  Moon  in  which  the  wild  geese  lay  eggs."  Also 
called  Wo-ca-dji-we,  and  sometimes  Wa-tx/pa-pe-we  —  "  The  Moon  when 
the  streams  are  navigable  again." 

V.—  MAY. 
Wo-ju-'pe-we—  "The  Planting  Moon. 


Wa-jus-te-ea-sa-we  —  "The  Moon  when  the  strawberries  are  red." 

VII.—  JULY. 

Ca-pa-sa-pa-we  or  Wa-su'-pa-we—  "  The  Moon  when  chokeberries  are  ripe," 
or  "  The  Moon  when  the  geese  shed  feathers." 

VIII.  —  AUGUST. 
Wa-su'-to-we—  "The  Harvest  Moon." 

TX.  —  SEPTEMBER. 
Psinh-na-ke-tu-we  —  "  The  Moon  when  rice  is  laid  up  to  dry." 

X.  —  OCTOBER. 
We-wa-ju-pe  or  Wa-zu'-pe-we  —  "  The  rice-drying  Moon." 

XI.  —  NOVEMBER. 
Ta-ke'-u-ra-we—  "The  deer-killing  Moon." 

XII.  —  DECEMBER. 
Ta-he'-ca-psu-we—  "  The  Deer  Moon." 

The  Indians  believe  that  when  the  moon  is  full  evil  spirits 
begin  nibbling  at  it,  to  put  out  its  light,  and  eat  a  portion  each 
night  until  it  is  all  gone.  Then  the  Great  Spirit,  who  will  not 
permit  them  to  take  advantage  of  the  darkness  and  go  about 
the  earth  doing  mischief,  makes  a  new  moon,  working  on  it 
every  night  until  it  is  completed,  when  he  leaves  it  and  goes 
to  sleep.  No  sooner  is  he  gone  than  the  bad  spirits  return  and 
eat  it  up  again.  The  savages  think  all  evil  deeds  are  com 
mitted  in  the  dark  of  the  moon,  and  that  it  is  a  good  time  to 
go  upon  any  prowling  or  stealing  expedition.  They  generally 
will  not  start  on  the  war  path  in  the  dark  of  the  moon,  but 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  291 

time  their  departure  so  as  to  arrive  in  the  country  of  the  enemy 
between  moons. 

I  will  here  introduce  brief  accounts  of  two  curious  ceremo 
nies,  called  respectively  the  Dog  Dance  and  the  Fish  Dance. 

The  dog  dance  is  seldom  performed,  most  Indians  thinking 
too  much  of  their  dogs  to  give  them  up  for  a  feast.  The  dance 
begins  as  on  ordinary  occasions,  when  suddenly  some  one 
throws  a  dog  into  th'e  middle  of  the  crowd  of  dancers,  and  be 
fore  the  unfortunate  animal  can  make  his  escape,  he  is  toma 
hawked,  cut  open,  his  liver  and  heart  taken  out  and  tied  to  the 
pole  round  which  the  Indians  dance. 

The  dancers  now  hop  around  very  lively,  the  mouth  of  each 
watering  for  a  bite  of  the  delicious  morsel  hanging  against  the 
pole.  After  three  circles  have  been  accomplished  about  the 
pole,  the  highest  in  authority  among  the  dancers  steps  up  to  it, 
and,  without  touching  the  body  with  his  hands,  seizes  a  mouth 
ful  of  the  liver  and  then  takes  his  place  in  the  circle. 

After  the  dancers  have  described  another  round,  the  next 
warrior  in  rank  comes  up,  and  in  like  manner  takes  his  mouth 
ful  of  dog,  and  so  on  until  all  have  had  a  bite  of  liver,  when  the 
squaws  come  in  for  the  heart,  which  they  eat  in  the  same  man 
ner.  Should  any  person  be  generous  enough  to  throw  in  an 
other  dog,  the  operation  is  repeated. 

There  is  no  special  meaning  or  importance  attached  to  this 
feast  on  ordinary  occasions,  but  it  is  often  performed  at  wed 
dings,  and  when  unexpected  arrivals  occur.  The  people  then 
dance  to  demonstrate  their  high  esteem  for  the  new-comers,  or 
to  show  good-will  for  the  warrior  and  his  bride.  The  bride 
groom,  or  the  person  in  whose  honor  the  dance  is  held,  is  ex- 
dected  to  contribute  two  or  three  dogs  for  the  feast,  and  the 
dancing  is  kept  up  as  long  as  the  supply  lasts.  The  capacity 


292  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

of  an  Indian  stomach  for  dog  meat  is  as  infinite  as  it  is 
wonderful. 

The  Fish  Dance. — A  Sioux  chief  was  very  sick,  and  the  med 
icine  men  could  not  cure  him,  when  one  night,  while  the  hot- 
wind  (fever)  was  upon  him,  he  dreamed  that  a  spirit  told  him, 
if  he  would  make  a  feast  of  raw  fish,  he  would  live  until  the 
young  cranes  were  grown.  So  he  summoned  his  warriors, 
related  to  them  what  had  happened,  and  they  all  agreed  to 
make  a  ceremony  and  assist  the  chief  in  eating  his  raw  fish. 

After  one  or  two  days  spent  in  the  sweat-house  and  in  danc 
ing  the  "  Shield  Dance,"  a  tent  was  prepared,  with  the  door 
set  toward  the  east.  A  long  fence  of  willow  bushes  was  then 
built  from  one  side  of  the  door,  around  a  considerable  space  to 
the  other  side  of  the  door,  and  within  the  inclosure  was  planted 
a  bush  for  each  person  who  was  to  participate  in  the  dance. 
Nests  were  next  built  in  the  bushes,  and  early  in  the  morning 
of  the  day  on  which  the  feast  was  to  take  place,  the  master 
informed  two  warriors  where  the  fish  were  to  be  caught,  how 
many,  and  of  what  kind.  These  persons  went  out,  and  as  the 
chief  desired,  brought  in  two  pike,  each  about  one  foot  in 
length,  which  they  had  speared  in  the  river. 

The  chief  then  painted  the  pike  with  vermilion,  and  orna 
mented  their  bellies  and  lower  jaws  with  strips  of  wild-goose 
down  dyed  red,  and  when  complete  they  were  laid  on  some 
willows  in  the  center  of  the  inclosure,  where  they  were  left  to 
dry.  Near  the  fish  were  a  number  of  birch-bark  dishes  filled 
with  sweetened  water,  and  the  implements  of  war  belonging  to 
the  participators  were  placed  in  the  tent.  "When  all  was  in 
readiness,  the  dancers,  who  were  almost  naked,  fantastically 
painted,  and  ornamented  with  down  dyed  red,  yellow,  black, 
and  white,  formed  in  four  ranks,  and  commenced  to  sing, 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  293 

each  rank  in  its  turn  accompanying  the  song  witn  drum  and 
rattles. 

The  drums  are  used  by  only  the  fourth  rank,  the  first,  sec 
ond,  and  third  ranks  being  singers.  The  dancers  rest  when 
each  rank  has  had  a  turn  and  ceased  singing.  Presently  the 
fourth  rank  begins  to  sing,  the  drums  beat  furiously,  the 
dancers  leap,  yell,  and  make  frightful  contortions  of  the  face 
and  body,  acting  as  much  like  demons  as  possible.  Suddenly 
the  music  changes,  the  dancers  dash  at  the  fish,  and  tear  them 
with  their  teeth,  eating  the  head,  body,  and  entrails.  Then 
they  swallow  some  mouthfuls  of  the  sweetened  water,  and 
each,  taking  one  of  the  large  bones  of  the  fish  which  are  left, 
deposit  them  in  the  nests  made  in  the  bushes,  and  the  feast  is 
ended. 

The  Indians  allege  that  the  chief  in  whose  honor  this  dance 
was  instituted  lived  until  the  cranes  had  become  full-grown 
birds,  and  then  he  died.  Since  then  this  feast  is  only  prepared 
for  a  chief  who  can  not  be  cured  of  his  sickness  by  the  medi 
cine  men.  A  medicine  man,  however,  if  he  is  a  chief  also, 
may  have  the  benefit  of  a  fish  dance,  but  no  one  else  except 
chiefs  are  entitled  to  so  great  an  honor. 

The  feasts  and  dances  of  the  Indians  are  so  near  alike  that 
I  do  not  deem  it  necessary  to  repeat  the  same  details  for  each, 
and  will  hereafter  only  describe  them  generally,  when  I  have 
occasion  to  refer  to  them  at  all. 


294 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    XLII. 

MO-TO-SOA'S  SADDLE — HOW  IT  WAS  MADE — MY  ANXIETY  TO  POSSESS  IT — MA-TO- 
8CA  REFUSES  TO  SELL  IT — EFFORTS  TO  GET  MY  SQUAWS  TO  MAKE  ME  A 
SADDLE — THE  RESULT — MA-TO-SCA's  GUN — THE  GUN  COVER — HOW  IT  WAS 

MADE. 

HAPPENING  into  the  teepee  of  Ma-to-sca  (White  Bear), 
one  day,  I  saw  one  of  his  squaws  working  on  a  piece 
of  red  cloth,  garnishing  it  in  a  most  tasteful  manner  with  cut- 
glass  beads  of  different  colors.  Not  knowing  what  the  cloth 
could  be  used  for,  being  of  a  different  shape  from  any  thing  I 
had  before  seen,  I  inquired,  and  was  told  it  was  a  saddle  skirt. 
The  squaw  had  almost  completed  it,  and  I  asked  her  who  it 
was  for,  when  she  told  me  it  was  a  present  for  her  husband. 
She  promised  to  bring  it  to  my  teepee  when  it  was  completed, 
and  let  me  see  it,  and  three  days  afterward  she  brought  it  for 
my  inspection.  The  Indian  saddle  was  made  of  buckskin, 
having  no  frame,  but  being  simply  a 
pad  of  doubled  soft  leather,  stuffed 
with  antelope  hair.  The  skirts  were 
long,  very  beautiful,  and  ornamented 
with  fringe.  This  saddle  was  only 
used  for  riding  on  important  occasions, 
and  was  fastened  to  the  pony's  back 
Ma-to-sca's  Saddle.  by  a  girth  or  band  of  rawhide  three 


BELPEX:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


295 


inches  broad,  which  was  attached  to  the  buckskin  pad.  No 
buckles  were  used.  A  strong  buckskin  string  fastened  the 
girth  to  the  pads.  There  were  no  stirrups,  but  soft  loops  for 


Ma-to-sca's  Saddle. 

the  feet.  I  tried  to  purchase  this  beautiful  horse  gear  of  White 
Bear,  but,  he  said,  as  it  was  a  present  from  his  squaw,  he  did 
not  like  to  part  with  it.  I  asked  my  squaws  if  they  thought 
they  could  make  me  one  like  it,  and  offered  to  give  them  each 
a  new  dress  of  squaw  cloth  if  they  would  do  so ;  but  they  told 
me  frankly  it  was  "  heap  o'  work,"  and  they  did  not  know  how 
to  lay  off  the  patterns.  Each  of  them,  however,  made  me  a 
present  of  a  pair  of  dancing  moccasins,  finely  beaded,  with  little 
brass  hawk  bells  attached  to  the  instep,  and  a  magnificent  pair 
of  beaded  leggings,  so  I  felt  compelled  to  give  them  the  new 
dresses. 

White  Bear's  saddle  had  a  crupper   made  of  buffalo  hide 
tanned    soft,   over  which    was   laid    blue    squaw  cloth  hand- 
18 


296  BELDEN  :   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

I 

somely  beaded  and  embroidered,  and  to  the  end  of  which  was 
attached  long  buckskin  fringe.  His  bridle  was  made  much  in 
the  same  fashion  as  those  used  by  the  whites,  only  that,  in  place 
of  being  leather  it  was  rawhide  covered  with  red  cloth,  and 
ornamented  with  diamond-shaped  silver  pieces,  two  of  which 
were  placed  on  each  side  of  the  cheek  pieces,  and  two  on  the 
brow  and  nose-band. 

There  was  no  throat-latch,  and  I  believe  I  have  never 
seen  any  used  by  the  Indians.  The  bit  was  a  straight- 
armed  curb  of  Spanish  pattern,  and  ornamented  at  the  ex 
tremities  of  the  curb  by  pendant  chains  about  five  inches 
long,  to  which  was  attached  a  silver  plate.  This  swung  back 
and  forth,  glittering  in  the  sun  as  the  pony  galloped.  The 
bridle  alone  was  valued  at  thirty  dollars,  and,  together  with 
the  saddle,  would  have  cost  sixty-five  dollars. 

White  Bear  was  fifty-five  years  of  age,  and  a  great  dandy, 
and  very  vain  of  his  dress  and  ornaments.  Though  maimed, 
he  was  always  anxious  to  appear  to  advantage  in  the  eyes  of 
the  women. 


Gun  Case. 


He  carried  a  gun  of  great  length,  and  seemed  to  think  a  deal 
of  it.  This  gun  was  protected  from  rain  and  dampness  by  a 
gaudy  cover  made  of  tanned  elk  hide,  gorgeously  beaded,  and 
ornamented  with  fringe  cut  from  buckskin. 


BELDEN:   THE  WHITE   CHIEF.  297 

He  always  carried  his  gun  across  the  pummel  of  the  saddle 
when  riding,  and  the  fringe  was  so  long  it  hung  down  on 
each  side  in  front  of  the  rider's  knees.  These  gun  cases  I 
have  seen  many  times  among  the  Sioux,  but  had  never  seen 

so  fine  a  one  as  Ma-to-sca's. 

26 


298  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    XLIII. 

THE  OLD  MAN — HIS  AGE — A  SINGULAE  PERSON — A  JOVIAL  PARTY — YOUNG  MEN 
AND  WOMEN — GIVING  THE  OLD  MAN  HIS  LAST  SMOKE — WHAT  THE  SQUAW 
SAID  ABOUT  HIM — DEATH  OF  THE  OLD  MAN. 

I  HAD  often  observed  in  the  teepee  of  a  good-natured  old 
squaw,  whom  I  used  to  visit  almost  every  day,  a  warrior, 
whose  hair  was  silvery  white,  and  who  was  so  old  that  no  one 
in  the  village  knew  his  age.  Several  of  the  Indians  told  me 
he  was  more  than  a  hundred  years  old,  and  I  would  have 
guessed  him  to  be  over  that  age,  so  venerable  was  his  appear 
ance.  He  was  a  paralytic,  and  always  lay  in  the  same  posi 
tion  when  I  entered  the  teepee.  He  never  looked  at  me  or 
any  person  in  the  lodge,  and  seemed  barely  alive.  He  could 
not  so  much  as  move  a  finger,  and  always  lay  stretched  out  on 
his  back,  being  fed  and  attended  by  his  daughter,  who  was 
the  old  squaw  I  have  just  mentioned. 

No  one  seemed  to  pay  any  attention  to  him,  every  one  mak 
ing  the  casual  inquiry  of  "How  is  the  old  man  to-day?"  and 
the  answer  invariably  was,  "  About  as  yesterday."  Nothing 
could  disturb  the  poor  old  fellow.  Young,  boisterous  girls 
and  squaws  would  laugh,  scream,  and  cut  up  pranks  in  the 
lodge,  but  the  old  man  never  heeded  them.  He  was  very  tall, 
over  six  feet  high,  I  should  think,  but  was  a  mere  skeleton, 
his  skin  and  bones  being  yellow  and  transparent.  He  eagerly 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  299 

sucked  at  a  pipe  whenever  any  of  the  company  were  good 
enough  to  present  the  end  of  the  stem  to  his  withered  lips; 
but  he  never  spoke  or  thanked  them  for  what  he  seemed  to 
relish  so  much ;  indeed,  I  believe  he  was  never  heard  to  speak, 
though  he  could  talk  when  he  wished  to  do  so. 

One  evening  some  four  or  five  girls  and  a  couple  of  young 
warriors  were  with  me  at  the  old  woman's  lodge,  and  all  were 
laughing  and  enjoying  themselves ;  some  of  the  girls  quizzing 
the  young  men  as  to  whom  they  liked  best  among  the  females 
of  the  village,  and  the  warriors  retorting  by  joking  the  girls. 
All  were  noisy  and  boisterous,  never  heeding  the  old  man,  who 
lay  in  one  corner  of  the  lodge.  They  had  been  laughing 
heartily  at  a  remark  made  by  the  old  woman,  when  I  hap 
pened  to  look  over  to  where  the  old  man  was  lying,  and  tak 
ing  pity  on  him,  I  turned  to  one  of  the  young  men,  and  asked 
him  to  let  me  have  his  pipe  and  kinnikinnick,  and  I  would 
give  the  old  fellow  a  smoke.  He  handed  me  the  pipe  and  to 
bacco,  and  while  I  was  cutting  off  some  to  fill  the  bowl,  one 
of  the  young  men  remarked,  "  I  gave  him  a  smoke  a  few 
minutes  ago,  and  he  can  not  be  very  bad  off."  The  old  wo 
man  spoke  up  hastily,  and  said:  "He'd  smoke  all  the  time  if 
some  one  would  hold  a  pipe,  bother  on  him ! "  I  filled  the 
pipe  and  passed  it  to  the  young  men  to  give  them  a  few  puffs 
first,  as  courtesy  demanded,  then  held  it  to  the  old  man's  lips, 
saying :  "  Father,  here  is  the  pipe,  smoke  in  peace."  He 
deigned  no  reply,  but  drew  in  one  or  two  long  puffs,  and  I  saw 
his  lips  moving  as  if  he  was  praying.  I  smoked  the  pipe  a 
little  to  keep  it  lit,  and  put  it  to  the  old  man's  lips  again  and 
again,  but  noticed  that  he  did  not  press  the  stem,  nor  draw 
away  the  smoke.  Supposing  he  did  not  want  to  smoke  any 
more,  I  went  back  to  the  company,  and  remarked,  "  We  will 


300  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

have  to  finish  this  pipe,  for  the  old  man  does  not  seem  to  want 
any  more."  The  old  woman  said :  "  You  put  the  stem  in  his 
lips  and  he  '11  smoke  any  time."  I  replied  he  had  smoked  at 
first,  but  the  last  time  I  offered  him  the  pipe  he  did  not  draw 
away  any  smoke.  I  also  told  them  of  his  moving  his  lips  as 
if  in  prayer ;  and,  having  aroused  the  curiosity  of  all,  we  went 
over  to  the  old  man's  bed,  and  his  daughter,  lifting  up  his 
hand,  said:  "He  is  dead."  He  was,  indeed,  dead,  having 
passed  away  without  a  struggle  while  he  had  been  smoking. 

This  singular  as  well  as  unfortunate  man  was  much  rever 
enced  in  the  village ;  and  the  old  woman  told  me  he  had  been 
lying  as  I  saw  him  for  fifteen  years,  having  apparently  lost  the 
use  of  his  limbs  through  age.  She  put  his  years  at  one  hun 
dred  and  eight. 


BELDEN  I    THE    WHITE    CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    XLIV. 

STOUX  WOMEN — THEIR  LIFE — POLYGAMY  AMONG  THE  SIOUX — PRICE  OF  WIVES — 

COURTING     A     SIOUX    GIRL THE     BRIDE    GOING     TO   THE   GROOM — BUYING   A 

WHOLE  FAMILY  TO  GET  A  WIFE — WHAT  CONSTITUTES  AN  ACCOMPLISHED  IN 
DIAN  WIFE — LABORS  OF  A  SIOUX  MOTHER — SEVERE  TREATMENT  OF  INDIAN 
WOMEN — AN  EXAMPLE  OF  INDIAN  CRUELTY — SUICIDE  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

AS  before  stated  in  these  pages,  the  happy  days  of  a  Sioux 
woman  is  her  childhood.  "When  she  arrives  at  the  age  of 
puberty  she  is  sold  to  a  warrior  for  his  wife,  and  then  her  life 
of  hardship  commences.  No  matter  how  kind  or  loving  her 
husband  may  be,  his  quality  as  a  warrior,  and  his  superiority 
as  a  man,  will  not  permit  him  to  depart  from  the  old  rules  of 
the  tribe,  which  marks  the  weaker  sex  as  the  hewers  of  wood 
and  drawers  of  water.  All  that  is  unusual  for  a  white  woman 
to  do,  the  Indian  wife  must  do.  She  cuts  wood,  butchers, 
dries  meat,  and  waits  on  her  liege  lord. 

The  Sioux  are  notorious  polygamists,  and  a  warrior  obtains 
his  wife — or,  more  generally,  another  wife — by  a  practice  as  old 
as  the  Book  of  Genesis,  that  of  purchase.  When  a  young 
man  courts  a  girl,  and  (which  he  seldom  does)  gets  her  to  love 
him,  he  then  obtains  her  consent,  and  buys  her  from  her 
parents. 

As  a  rule,  when  a  warrior  wants  a  wife,  or  an  additional 
wife,  he  announces  the  fact  to  his  friends,  and  begs  them  to  use 
their  influence  to  procure  him  one.  When  she  is  found,  he  is 


302  BELDEN:    THE    WHITE   CHIEF. 

notified  of  the  fact,  and  he  then  goes  to  her  lodge  to  see  her, 
the  girl,  in  most  cases,  being  ignorant  of  the  object  of  his  visit. 
She  generally,  however,  has  a  suspicion,  for  every  girl,  after 
arriving  at  the  age  of  maturity,  is  constantly  expecting  some 
one  to  come  for  her.  After  the  warrior  has  seen  his  future 
wife,  he  leaves  the  lodge,  and,  if  he  is  satisfied  with  her,  takes 
an  early  opportunity  to  consult  her  parents,  when  the  price  to 
be  paid  for  her  is  agreed  upon.  If  all  is  satisfactory,  the  girl 
is  then  notified  she  has  been  sold,  and  is,  thereafter,  to  be  con 
sidered  the  wife  of  so  and  so.  She  immediately  packs  up  her 
little  keepsakes  and  trinkets,  and,  without  exhibiting  any  emo 
tion,  such  as  is  common  to  white  girls,  leaves  her  home,  and 
goes  to  the  lodge  of  her  master.  On  entering  his  teepee,  where 
he  is  waiting  for  her,  he  orders  her  to  sit  down  on  a  blanket, 
folded  up  for  a  seat  and  laid  on  the  floor,  and,  if  she  obeys,  she 
thereby  acknowledges  him  as  her  husband,  and  henceforth  be 
comes  his  willing  slave.  I  have  read  somewhere  that  the  an 
cestors  of  many  of  the  first  families  of  Virginia  purchased  their 
wives  from  a  London  company  for  one  hundred  and  twenty 
pounds  of  tobacco;  but  the  Sioux  pays  a  higher  price  for  his 
wives,  and  takes  more  of  them. 

The  usual  price  for  an  Indian  girl  is  an  American  horse,  or 
its  equivalent,  two  ponies,  four  or  eight  blankets — indeed,  any 
thing  amounting  in  value  to  one  hundred  dollars.  A  warrior 
sometimes  falls  in  love  with  several  sisters,  and,  in  that  case, 
buys  the  whole  family.  I  once  knew  a  young  man  who  had 
about  a  dozen  horses  he  had  captured  at  different  times  from 
the  enemy,  and  who  fell  desperately  in  love  with  a  girl  of  nine 
teen.  She  loved  him  in  return,  but  said  she  could  not  bear  to 
leave  her  tribe,  and  go  to  the  Santee  village,  unless  her  two 
sisters,  aged  respectively  fifteen  and  seventeen,  went  with  her. 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  303 

Determined  to  have  his  sweetheart,  the  next  time  the  warrior 
visited  the  Yankton  village  he  took  several  ponies  with  him, 
and  bought  all  three  of  the  girls  from  their  parents,  giving 
five  ponies  for  them.  A  squaw  wife  can  be  sold  by  her  hus 
band  to  any  one  who  wishes  to  buy  her,  but  at  a  greatly  re 
duced  price.  Thirty  or  forty  dollars  is  considered  a  large  sum 
for  a  second-hand  wife.  The  squaws  are  valued  by  the  middle- 
aged  men  only  for  their  strength  and  ability  to  work,  and  no 
account  whatever  is  taken  of  personal  beauty.  The  girls  are 
always  adepts  in  the  art  of  beading  and  porcupine-quill  em 
broidering,  and  this  is  often  of  great  assistance  in  selling  them, 
as  most  Indians  like  to  have  accomplished  wives.  Well  indeed 
does  the  Sioux  woman  deserve  the  sympathy  of  every  tender 
heart,  for,  from  the  day  of  her  marriage  until  her  death,  she 
leads  a  most  wretched  life.  They  are  more  than  the  hewers  of 
wood  and  drawers  of  water,  for  they  are  the  servants  of  serv 
ants.  On  a  winter  day  the  Sioux  mother  is  often  obliged  to 
travel  eight  or  ten  miles,  and  carry  her  lodge,  camp-kettle,  ax, 
child,  and  several  small  dogs  on  her  back  and  head.  *  Arriving 
late  in  the  afternoon  at  the  appointed  place  of  camping,  she 
clears  the  snow  off  the  ground  where  the  teepee  is  to  be  erected, 
and  then,  in.  the  nearest  grove,  cuts  down  some  poles  twelve  or 
fourteen  feet  in  length,  which  she  forms  into  a  skeleton,  or 
frame-work,  for  the  teepee  cover ;  she  next  unstraps  her  packs, 
unfolds  the  teepee,  and  brings  the  bottom  part  to  the  base  of 
the  poles,  where  she  pins  it  fast  to  the  earth  with  little  wooden 
pins  cut  for  the  purpose. 

She  next  obtains  a  long  pole,  fastens  the  small  end  of  the 

*  Young  puppies  are  treated  as  tenderly  as  children,  and,  in  fact,  often 
inhabit  the  same  wicker  baskets  with  the  children. 


304  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

teepee  cloth  to  it,  then  raises  it  up  around  the  poles,  pushing  it 
to  the  top,  and  stretching  the  cloth  as  tight  as  possible  without 
pulling  the  pins  out  at  the  bottom.  The  two  edges  of  the 
teepee  cloth  are  then  drawn  around  the  poles  until  they  meet, 
when  a  seam  is  formed  by  sewing  it  with  little  wooden  pins. 

This  seam  extends  from  the  bottom  to  the  top  of  the  cover. 
She  next  goes  inside  the  teepee,  takes  each  pole  in  turn,  and, 
raising  it,  pushes  the  butt  end  out  as  far  toward  the  center  of 
the  lodge  as  the  cloth  will  admit.  When  it  is  perfectly  taut, 
she  makes  a  small  opening  at  the  top  for  smoke  to  escape. 
This  done,  she  rolls  her  baby  in  a  robe,  and  leaves  it  in  the 
teepee  while  she  goes  to  the  timber  for  wood.  Presently 
she  returns  with  about  one-fourth  of  a  cord  on  her  back, 
builds  a  fire,  and  then  goes  for  water.  The  camp-kettle  is 
put  on,  and  while  it  boils  she  cuts  the  meat  and  prepares  sup 
per.  By  the  time  the  meat  is  done  her  husband  arrives,  jumps 
off  his  pony,  goes  in  and  sits  down  to  rest  or  eat,  while  his 
wife  takes  off  the  pony's  saddle  and  bridle,  and  pickets  him  out 
to  graze.  When  supper  is  over  she  gets  an  ax  and  cuts  a 
bundle  of  wood  for  the  night.  This  done,  if  she  receives  no 
further  orders  from  her  husband,  she  nourishes  her  child,  and 
sits  down  silent  and  tired  to  doze  away  an  hour  or  two  until 
her  master  goes  to  sleep,  when,  having  assured  herself  that  he 
is  asleep,  she  folds  her  babe  to  her  bosom,  and,  drawing  her 
blankets  around  her,  lies  down  for  a  few  hours'  repose,  only  to 
wake  to  repeat  her  round  of  toil  on  the  morrow. 

The  Sioux  wife  is  subject  to  all  the  whims  and  caprices  of 
her  husband,  and  woe  be  to  her  if  he  is  a  bad-tempered  man. 
So  severe  is  their  treatment  of  women,  a  happy  female  face  is 
hardly  ever  seen  in  the  Sioux  nation,  and  the  few  met  with 
belong  to  single  women. 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  305 

Often  they  become  callous,  and  take  a  beating  much  as  a 
horse  or  ox  does;  but  sometimes  one  of  the  more  spirited 
women  rebels  against  the  cruel  treatment  of  her  husband,  and 
resorts  to  suicide  to  put  an  end  to  her  sufferings.  An  incident 
occurred  some  years  ago  at  a  lodge  which  was  pitched  at  the 
mouth  of  the  St.  Croix  River,  which  will  serve  to  show  the 
desperation  to  which  Indian  women  are  sometimes  driven. 

A  warrior  was  continually  drunk  whenever  he  could  get  any 
liquor,  and  he  was  seldom  without  it,  often  keeping  a  keg  in 
his  lodge.  Whenever  he  drank  he  was  very  abusive  to  his 
wife,  often  beating  her  and  her  children  unmercifully.  One 
day  he  went  hunting,  and,  while  he  was  gone,  the  poor  woman 
hid  the  keg  of  liquor,  and  upon  his  return  he  could  not  find  it. 
He  demanded  to  know  where  it  was,  but  she  refused  to  tell  him, 
when  he  beat  her  cruelly,  and  so  distressed  was  she  that  she 
went  to  a  grove  of  timber  near  by  and  hung  herself  with  a 
lariat  rope. 

Suicide  is  very  common  among  Indian  women,  and  con 
sidering  the  treatment  they  receive,  it  is  a  wonder  there  is  not 
more  of  it. 

27 


306  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    XLY. 

NEWS  FROM  THE  WAR — STARTLING  INTELLIGENCE — WHAT  THE  INDIAN  RUN 
NER  SAID — DETERMINE  TO  JOIN  THE  UNION  ARMY — PACK  UP  AND  LEAVH 
FOR  THE  STATES — ARRIVAL  AT  FORT  RANDALL — PART  WITH  MY  SQUAWS — 

THEIR  RETURN  TO  THEIR  TRIBE REACH  OMAHA JOIN  THE  FIRST  NEBRASKA 

CAVALRY COL.    BROWN'S    EXPEDITION — HOSTILE     SIOUX — CAMPING    ON    THE 

REPUBLICAN — THE  SIOUX  DEFEAT  LIEUT.  MURIE — AFTER  THE  INDIANS — 
OUR  CAMP  ON  THE  SOLOMON — A  BUFFALO  BULL  IN  CAMP — HE  KILLS  TWO 
HORSES — DEATH  OF  THE  BUFFALO — EATING  DEAR  BEEF — WHAT  COL.  BROWN 
SAID. 

"\TK7~E  had  heard  occasionally  of  the  great  war  being  waged 
'  *  for  the  Union,  but  had  received  no  very  definite  in 
formation  until  one  evening,  an  Indian,  who  had  been  far 
down  the  Missouri,  at  one  of  the  forts,  canie  into  camp,  and 
brought  the  intelligence  that  the  rebels  were  gaining  victory 
after  victory,  and  that  all  the  soldiers  were  leaving  the  plains 
and  going  east  to  help  fight  the  rebels.  The  Indian  also  said 
the  Government  was  going  to  raise  volunteer  troops  on  the 
border  to  replace  the  regular  soldiers  who  were  going  east,  and 
many  Omaha,  Winnebago,  and  Pawnee  Indians  were  joining 
the  whites  at  the  forts.  I  can  not  describe  how  these  tidings 
affected  me.  I  could  not  sleep,  and  all  night  long  walked  up 
and  down  the  camp.  Next  morning  my  mind  was  thoroughly 
made  up  to  return  to  the  east  and  help  fight  for  the  Union. 
Ordering  my  squaws  to  pack  up  the  lodge,  we  at  once  set 


BELDEN  :    THE    WHITE   CHIEF.  307 

out  down  the  Missouri.  After  many  days  patient  journeying 
we  arrived  at  Fort  Randall,  and  there,  bidding  my  squaws 
good-by,  I  left  them  to  make  their  way  with  my  property  4o 
their  tribe,  which  was  not  far  distant,  while  I  continued  my 
journey  alone  to  Omaha. 

On  arriving  at  Omaha  I  learned  a  mounted  regiment  was 
being  fitted  out  for  service  on  the  frontier,  and  presenting  my 
self,  was  duly  enrolled  a  soldier  of  the  United  States  army  in 
the  First  Nebraska  Cavalry.  The  Indians,  under  the  cele 
brated  Sioux  chief,  Spotted  Tail,  had  become  very  troublesome, 
and  our  regiment  was  ordered  to  join  the  expedition  of  Col. 
Brown,  then  rendezvousing  near  North  Platte,  on  the  Platte 
River.  The  expedition  consisted  of  the  First  Nebraska  Cav 
alry,  Twelfth  Missouri  Cavalry,  and  a  detachment  of  the  Sec 
ond  United  States,  and  Seventh  Iowa  Cavalry — Col.  Brown, 
the  senior  officer,  commanding  the  whole  force. 

The  snow  was  quite  deep  on  the  plains,  and  knowing  that 
the  hostile  Indians,  who  were  then  encamped  on  the  Repub 
lican  River,  were  encumbered  by  their  .villages,  women,  and 
children,  it  was  thought  to  be  a  favorable  time  to  strike  them 
a  severe  blow.  There  were  many  Indians  in  our  command, 
among  others  a  large  body  of  Pawnee  scouts.  Early  in  Janu 
ary  the  expedition  left  the  Platte  River,  and  marched  south 
ward  toward  the  Republican.  When  we  reached  the  river  a 
depot  of  supplies  was  established  and  named  "  Camp  Wheaton," 
after  the  general  then  commanding  the  department  of  the 
Platte.  This  done,  the  scouting  began,  and  we  were  ready  for 
war.  Nor  were  we  long  kept  waiting,  for  Lieut.  James 
Murie,  who  marched  out  to  Short  Nose  Creek  with  a  party  of 
scouts,  was  suddenly  attacked  by  a  large  body  of  Sioux,  and 
six  of  his  men  wounded.  Col.  Brown  considered  this  an  un- 


308  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

fortunate  affair,  inasmuch  as  the  Indians,  having  learned  by  ii 
the  presence  of  troops  in  their  country,  would  be  on  the  alert, 
and,  in  all  probability,  at  once  clear  out  with  their  villages. 
He  determined,  if  it  were  possible,  still  to  surprise  them,  and 
ordered  the  command  immediately  into  the  saddle.  We  pushed 
hard  for  Solomon's  Fork,  a  great  resort  for  the  savages,  but 
arrived  only  in  time  to  find  their  camps  deserted  and  the  In 
dians  all  gone. 

One  evening,  as  we  were  encamped  on  the  banks  of  the 
Solomon,  a  huge  buffalo  bull  suddenly  appeared  on  the  bluff 
overlooking  the  camp,  and  gazed  in  wonder  at  a  sight  so  un 
usual  to  his  eyes.  In  a  moment  a  dozen  guns  were  ready  to 
fire,  but  as  the  beast  came  down  the  narrow  ravine  washed  by 
the  rains  in  the  bluff,  all  waited  until  he  should  emerge  on  the 
open  plain  near  the  river.  Then  a  lively  skirmish  was  opened 
on  him,  and  he  turned  and  quickly  disappeared  again  in  the 
gulch.  Several  of  the  soldiers  rato  up  one  of  the  narrow  water 
courses,  hoping  to  get  a  shot  at  him  as  he  emerged  on  the  open 
prairie.  What  was  their  surprise  to  meet  him  coming  down. 
He  ran  up  one  ravine,  and  being  half  crazed  by  his  wounds, 
had,  on  reaching  the  prairie,  turned  into  the  one  in  which  the 
soldiers  were.  As  soon  as  he  saw  him,  the  soldier  in  front 
called  out  to  those  behind  him  to  run,  but  they,  not  under 
standing  the  nature  of  the  danger,  continued  to  block  up  the 
passage.  The  bull  could  barely  force  his  great  body  between 
the  high  and  narrow  banks;  but  before  all  the  soldiers  could 
get  out  of  the  ravine,  he  was  upon  them,  and  trampled  two  of 
them  under  his  feet,  not  hurting  them  much,  but  frightening 
them  terribly.  As  the  beast  came  out  again  on  the  open  bank 
of  the  river  a  score  of  soldiers,  who  had  run  over  from  the 
camp  with  their  guns,  gave  him  a  dozen  balls.  Still  he  did 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  309 

not  fall,  but,  dashing  through  the  brush,  entered  the  cavalry 
caniD,  and  running  up  to  a  large  gray  horse  that  was  tied  to  a 
tree,  lifted  the  poor  brute  on  his  horns  and  threw  him  into  the 
air.  The  horse  was  completely  disemboweled,  and  dropped 
down  dead!""  The  buffalo  next  plunged  his  horns  into  a  fine 
bay  horse,  the  property  of  an  officer  in  the  Seventh  Iowa  Cav 
alry,  and  the  poor  fellow  groaned  with  pain  until  the  hills  re 
sounded.  Exhausted  by  his  exertions  and  wounds,  the  bull 
laid  down  carefully  by  the  side  of  the  horse,  as  if  afraid  of 
hurting  himself,  and  in  a  moment  rolled  over  dead.  We 
skinned  and  dressed  him,  and  carried  the  meat  into  camp  for 
our  suppers ;  but  it  was  dearly  bought  beef,  at  the  expense  of 
the  lives  of  two  noble  horses;  and  Col.  Brown  notified  us  he 
wished  no  further  contracts  closed  on  such  expensive  terms. 


310  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    XLYI. 

FIVE    HUNDRED    DOLLARS    REWARD  —  ADVENTURE    OF    SERGEANTS    HILES    AND 
EOLLA — A  DANGEROUS   ENTERPRISE — NELSON  AND    I    HUNT    FOR    AN    INDIAN 

VILLAGE— PERILOUS    POSITION THE    DISCOVERY — THE    FLIGHT — AN     INDIAN 

TRAIL A  RACE  FOR  LIFE — SAFE  RETURN  TO  CAMP— SERGEANT  HILES's  STORY — 

DEATH    OF    ROLLA — CORRALLED    IN  A    SNOW    DRIFT — A    NARROW    ESCAPE — A 
LONG  WALK — ALL  RIGHT  ONCE  MORE. 

TIT^HILE  we  lay  encamped  at  the  depot  of  supplies,  on  the 
*  *  Republican,  Colonel  Brown  called  for  volunteer  scouts, 
stating  he  would  give  a  purse  of  five  hundred  dollars  to  any 
one  who  would  discover  a  village  of  Indians  and  lead  the  com 
mand  to  the  spot.  This  glittering  prize  dazzled  the  eyes  of 
many  a  soldier,  but  few  had  the  courage  to  undertake  so  haz 
ardous  an  enterprise.  Sergeant  Hiles,  of  the  First  Nebraska, 
and  Sergeant  Holla,  of  the  Seventh  Iowa,  came  forward  and 
said  they  would  go  upon  the  expedition  provided  they  could  go 
alone.  Both  were  shrewd,  sharp  men,  and  Colonel  Brown 
readily  gave  his  consent,  well  knowing  that  in  scouting,  where 
the  object  is  not  to  fight,  but  to  gain  information  and  keep 
concealed,  the  fewer  men  in  the  party  the  better  their  chances 
of  escape. 

On  the  day  after  Hiles  and  Rolla  had  left  camp,  Nelson,  who 
had  come  down  and  joined  the  army  as  a  guide,  proposed  to  me 
that  we  should  go  out  and  hunt  an  adventure.  My  old  love 
of  Indian  life  was  upon  me,  and  I  joyfully  accepted  his  prop- 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  311 

osition.  I  applied  to  Colonel  Brown  for  permission  to  set  out 
at  once,  but  he  declined  to  grant  my  request,  on  the  ground 
that  it  was  not  necessary  or  proper  for  an  officer  to  engage  in 
such  an  enterprise.  I,  however,  coaxed  the  colonel  a  little, 
and  he  finally  told  me  I  might  go. 

Packing  several  days  supplies  on  a  mule,  as  soon  as  it  was 
dark  Nelson  and  I  started,  he  leading  the  mule,  and  I  driving 
him  from  behind.  We  traveled  over  to  the  Little  Beaver, 
then  up  the  stream  for  some  distance,  when  we  crossed  over 
and  camped  on  Little  Beaver.  Here  we  expected  to  find  In 
dian  signs,  but  were  disappointed.  We  rested  for  a  short  time, 
and  then  traveled  down  the  Beaver  until  opposite  Short  Nose 
Creek,  when  we  crossed  the  divide  and  camped  on  that  stream. 
Two  days  later  we  pushed  on  to  Cedar  Creek,  and  then  crossed 
over  to  Prairie  Dog  Creek.  We  had  traveled  only  at  night, 
hiding  away  all  day  in  the  brush  that  lined  the  creeks,  and 
keeping  a  sharp  lookout  for  Indians.  So  far  we  had  seen  no 
Indian  signs,  and  began  to  despair  of  finding  any,  when  one 
morning,  just  as  I  was  lighting  the  fire  to  cook  our  breakfast, 
I  heard  several  shots  fired,  apparently  four  or  five  miles  up 
the  creek.  Nelson  run  out  on  the  bluff,  and,  applying  his 
ear  to  the  ground,  said  he  could  distinctly  hear  the  reports 
of  many  rifles.  We  could  not  imagine  what  this  meant,  and 
withdrew  into  the  bluffs  to  "  make  it  out,"  as  the  old  trappers 
say. 

Nelson  was  the  first  speaker,  and  he  gave  it  as  his  opinion 
that  Colonel  Brown,  who  had  told  us  before  leaving  camp  he 
would  soon  start  for  the  Solomon,  had  set  out  earlier  than  he 
expected,  and  was  now  crossing  above  us.  I  set  my  compass, 
and,  finding  we  were  nearly  on  the  line  where  Brown  would 
cross,  readily  fell  in  with  Nelson's  reasoning.  So  sure  was  I 
19 

i 


312  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE   CHIEF. 

that  the  guns  we  had  heard  were  Colonel  Brown's  soldiers  out 
hunting,  that  I  proposed  we  should  saddle  up  and  go  to  them. 
This  move  came  near  proving  fatal  to  us,  as  will  presently  ap 
pear.  We  rode  boldly  up  the  stream,  in  broad  daylight,  some 
five  miles,  when,  not  finding  any  trail,  I  began  to  express  my 
surprise  at  the  long  distance  we  had  heard  the  reports  of  the 
guns,  but  Nelson  told  me  it  was  no  uncommon  thing,  when  snow 
was*  on  the  ground,  to  hear  a  rifle  shot  ten  to  twenty  miles  along 
a  creek  bottom,  and,  incredible  as  this  may  seem,  I  found  out 
afterward  it  was  nevertheless  true. 

We  rode  on  about  five  miles  further,  when  suddenly  Nelson 
halted,  and,  pointing  to  an  object  a  long  distance  ahead,  said  he 
believed  it  was  a  horseman.  We  lost  no  time  in  getting  into 
the  bluffs,  where  we  could  observe  what  went  on  without  being 
seen,  and  soon  saw  an  animal  coming  rapidly  down  the  creek 
bottom.  As  it  drew  near,  we  discovered  it  to  be  a  horse,  evi 
dently  much  frightened,  and  flying  from  pursuers.  The  horse 
galloped  past,  but  stopped  half  a  mile  below  us  and  quietly 
went  to  grazing,  every  now  and  then  raising  his  head  and  look 
ing  up  the  creek,  as  if  he  expected  to  see  some  enemy  following 
him.  We  lay  for  several  hours  momentarily  expecting  to  see  a 
body  of  Indians  coming  down  the  creek,  but  none  came,  and  at 
noon  Nelson  said  I  should  watch,  and  he  would  crawl  down  the 
creek  and  see  if  he  could  discover  any  thing  from  the  horse.  I 
saw  Nelson  approach  quite  near  the  animal,  and  heard  him 
calling  it,  when,  to  my  surprise,  it  came  up  to  him  and  followed 
him  into  the  bluffs.  The  horse  was  the  one  Sergeant  Hiles  had 
ridden  from  the  camp  a  few  days  previous,  and  was  well  known 
to  Nelson  and  me  as  a  superb  animal,  named  "  Selim.'' 

It  did  not  take  us  long  to  come  to  the  conclusion  that  Hiles 
and  Rolla  had  been  attacked,  and  that  the  firing  we  had  heard 


BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  313 

in  the  morning  was  done  by  Indians.  From  the  fact  that  Hiles's 
horse  had  no  saddle  on  when  found,  we  concluded  he  had  been 
in  the  hands  of  the  Indians,  and  probably  broken  away  from 
them,  and  we  doubted  not  that  at  least  Hiles  was  dead. 

Fearing  the  savages  would  come  down  upon  us  next,  we  lost 
no  time  in  getting  down  the  creek.  We  soon  passed  where  we 
had  encamped  the  night  before,  and,  finding  the  fire  still  burn 
ing,  put  it  out,  and,  covering  up  the  ashes,  pushed  on  for  sev 
eral  miles  and  camped  among  the  bluffs.  Nelson  carried  up 
several  logs  from  the  creek,  with  which  to  make  a  barricade  in 
case  of  attack,  and,  Nelson  taking  the  first  watch,  I  laid  down 
to  sleep,  without  fire  or  supper,  except  a  piece  of  raw  pork. 

At  nine  o'clock  I  arose  to  watch,  and  soon  after  midnight, 
the  moon  coming  up  bright  and  clear,  I  awoke  Nelson,  and 
suggested  to  him  we  would  saddle  up  and  cross  over  to  Cedar 
Creek,  for  I  had  a  strong  presentiment  that  some  misfortune 
would  befall  us  if  we  remained  longer  where  we  were.  It  is  not  a 
little  singular,  but  true,  that  man  has  a  wonderful  instinct,  and 
can  nearly  always  divine  coming  trouble  or  danger.  This  instinct 
in  the  frontiersman,  of  course,  is  wonderfully  developed  by  the 
perilous  life  he  leads ;  but,  call  it  presentiment  or  what  you  will, 
this  instinct  exists  in  every  beast  of  the  field,  as  well  as  in  the 
human  breast,  and  he  who  follows  it  can  have  no  safer  guide. 
Several  times  have  I  saved  my  life  by  obeying  the  dictates  of 
that  silent  monitor  within,  which  told  me  to  go,  and  yet  gave 
no  reason  for  my  going. 

We  had  not  ridden  far  when  we  came  upon  a  heavy  Indian 
trail,  and  found  it  not  more  than  four  or  five  hours  old.  The 
tracks  showed  some  fifty  ponies,  and  all  going  in  the  direction 
of  the  Republican.  We  were  now  convinced  that  Rolla  had 
^scaped  and  the  Indians  were  pursuing  him.  Following  on 


314  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

the  trail  for  some  distance,  until  we  came  to  a  bare  spot  on  the 
bluff  where  our  horses  would  leave  no  tracks  in  the  snow,  we 
turned  to  the  left,  and,  whipping  up  the  ponies,  struck  out  foi 
a  forced  march.  We  knew  the  Indians  might  return  at  any 
moment,  and  if  they  should  find  our  trail  they  would  follow 
us  like  blood-hounds. 

All  night  long  we  pushed  on,  halting  only  at  sunrise  to  eat 
a  bite  and  give  our  poor  ponies  a  few  mouth fuls  of  grass. 
Again  we  were  off,  and  throughout  the  day  whipped  and 
spurred  along  our  animals  as  rapidly  as  possible.  At  night 
we  halted  for  two  hours  to  rest,  and  then  mounted  the  saddle 
once  more.  On  the  fifth  day  we  met  a  company  of  cavalry  that 
had  been  sent  out  by  Col.  Brown  to  look  for  us,  and  with  them 
we  returned  to  camp. 

We  learned  from  the  cavalrymen  that  Sergeant  Ililes 
had  been  attacked  by  Indians,  and  Sergeant  Eolla  had  been 
killed.  Hiles,  though  he  had  lost  his  horse,  had  managed  to 
work  his  way  back  to  camp  on  foot,  where  he  had  arrived 
the  morning  they  left  camp,  nearly  starved.  We  had  gone 
much  out  of  our  way  to  escape  the  Indians  who  had  followed 
Hiles ;  but  since  we  had  succeeded  in  avoiding  them  and  sav  • 
ing  our  scalps,  we  did  not  care  a  fig  for  our  long  and  tiresome 
journey. 

Sergeant  Hiles  related  to  me  his  adventures  after  leaving 
camp,  and  I  will  here  repeat  them  as  a  sequel  to  my  own.  He 
said :  "  Holla  and  I  traveled  several  days,  and  finally  pulled  up 
on  Prairie  Dog  Creek.  We  had  seen  no  Indians,  and  were  be 
coming  careless,  believing  there  were  none  in  the  country.  One 
morning  just  about  day-break  I  built  a  fire,  and  while  Holla 
and  I  were  warming  ourselves  we  were  fired  upon  by  some 
forty  Indians.  Holla  fell,  pierced  through  the  heart,  and  died 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  315 

instantly.  How  I  escaped  I  know  not,  for  the  balls  whistled 
all  around  me,  knocking  up  the  fire,  and  even  piercing  my 
clothing,  yet  I  was  not  so  much  as  scratched. 

"  I  ran  to  my  horse,  which  was  saddled  and  tied  near  by, 
and  flinging  myself  on  his  back,  dashed  across  the  prairies. 
The  Indians  followed,  whooping  and  yelling  like  devils,  and 
although  their  ponies  ran  well,  they  could  not  overtake  my 
swift-footed  Selim.  I  had  got  well  ahead  of  them,  and  was 
congratulating  myself  on  my  escape  from  a  terrible  death, 
when  suddenly  Selim  fell  headlong  into  a  ravine  that  was 
filled  with  drifted  snow.  It  was  in  vain  I  tried  to  extricate 
him;  the  more  he  struggled  the  deeper  he  sank.  Knowing 
the  Indians  would  be  up  in  a  few  minutes,  I  cut  the  saddle- 
girths  with  my  knife,  that  the  horse  might  be  freer  in  his 
movements,  and  then,  bidding  him  lie  still;  I  took  my  pfctols 
and  burrowed  into  the  snow  beside  him.  After  I  had  dug 
down  a  little  way,  I  struck  off  in  the  drift,  and  worked  my 
way  along  it  toward  the  valley.  I  had  not  tunneled  far  before 
I  heard  the  Indians  coming,  and,  pushing  up  my  head,  I  cut 
a  small  hole  in  the  crust  of  the  snow,  so  I  could  peep  out.  As 
the  savages  came  up  they  began  to  yell,  and  Selim,  making  a 
great  bound,  leaped  upon  the  solid  earth  at  the  edge  of  the  ra 
vine,  and  dragging  himself  out  of  the  drift,  galloped  furiously 
across  the  prairies.  Oh  !  how  I  wished  then  I  was  on  his  back, 
for  I  knew  the  noble  fellow  would  soon  bear  me  out  of  reach 
of  all  danger. 

"  The  Indians  divided,  part  of  them  going  up  the  ravine 
and  crossing  over  to  pursue  Selim,  while  the  rest  dismounted 
to  look  for  his  rider.  They  carefully  examined  the  ground  all 
around  to  find  my  trail,  but  not  finding  any  they  returned  and 
searched  up  and  down  the  ravine  for  me.  Two  or  three  times 


316  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

they  punched  in  the  snow  near  me,  and  once  an  Indian  passed 
within  a  few  feet  of  my  hole.  Great  drops  of  perspiration 
stood  on  my  forehead,  and  every  moment  I  expected  to  be  dis 
covered,  dragged  out,  and  scalped,  but  I  remained  perfectly 
still,  grasping  my  pistols,  and  determined  to  sell  my  life  as 
dearly  as  possible,  and  make  it  cost  the  red-skins  at  least  three 
of  their  number. 

"  After  awhile  the  Indians  got  tired  searching  for  me, 
and  drew  off  to  consult.  I  saw  the  party  that  had  gone  in 
pursuit  of  Selim  rejoin  their  companions,  and  I  was  not  a 
little  gratified  to  observe  they  did  not  bring  back  my  gal 
lant  steed  with  them,  from  which  I  knew  he  had  made  his 
escape. 

"  The  Indians  mounted  and  rode  down  the  ravine,  examin 
ing  livery  inch  of  ground  for  my  trail.  As  I  saw  them  move 
off  hope  once  more  revived  in  my  breast ;  but  in  an  hour  they 
came  back  and  again  searched  the  drift.  At  last,  however, 
they  went  off  without  finding  me,  and  I  lay  down  to  rest,  so 
exhausted  was  I,  from  watching  and  excitement,  that  I  could 
not  stand.  I  knew  I  did  not  dare  to  sleep,  for  it  was  very 
cold,  and  a  stupor  would  come  upon  me.  All  that  day  and 
night  and  the  next  day  I  lay  in  the  drift,  for  I  knew  the  In 
dians  were  watching  it. 

"On  the  second  night,  as  soon  as  it  was  dark,  I  crawled 
out,  and  worked  my  way  to  the  foot  of  the  ravine.  At  first 
I  was  so  stiff  and  numb  I  could  hardly  move  hand  or  foot, 
but  as  I  crawled  along  the  blood  began  to  warm  up,  and  soon 
I  was  able  to  walk.  I  crept  cautiously  along  the  bluffs  until 
I  had  cleared  the  ravine,  and  then,  striking  out  on  the  open 
prairie,  steered  to  the  northward.  Fortunately,  the  first  day 
out  I  shot  an  antelope  and  got  some  raw  meat,  which  kept  me 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  317 

from  starving.  In  two  days  and  a  half  I  reached  the  camp, 
nearly  dead  from  fatigue  and  hunger,  and  was  thoroughly  glad 
to  be  at  home  in  my  tent  once  more  with  a  whole  scalp  on  my 
head." 

We  had  not  found  an  Indian  village,  and  none  of  us  got  the 
$500,  but  we  had  all  had  a  glorious  adventure,  and  that  to  a 
frontiersman  is  better  than  money. 


318  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    XLVII. 

HUNTING  WILD  TURKEYS  ON  THE  MEDICINE — THE  LOST  TRAIL — WAITING  FOR 
THE  COMMAND — BAG  A  FINE  ELK — HUNTING  FOR  THE  TRAIL — TWO  INDIANS — 
WE  CAMP  OUT — AN  ADVENTURE  WITH  WOLVES — CAYOTES  AND  BUFFALO 
WOLVES — NINE  DEAD  WOLVES — THE  FATAL  LEAP — A  BUSY  NIGHT — ON  THE 
MARCH — THE  TRAIL  LOST CAMP  OUT  AGAIN — MORE  WOLVES — CANNIBALS- 
STRIKING  FOR  HOME — THE  CAMP  FOUND IN  MY  OWN  TENT — PLEASANT  RE 
FLECTIONS  AND  REST. 

T~\THILE  we  lay  in  camp  on  Medicine  Creek,  Colonel 
Brown  sent  for  me,  and  ordered  me  to  look  up  and 
map  the  country.  I  was  detached  as  a  topographical  engineer, 
and  this  order  relieved  me  from  all  company  duty,  and  en 
abled  me  to  go  wherever  I  pleased,  which  was  not  a  little  grat 
ifying  to  one  so  fond  of  rambling  about. 

Packing  my  traps  on  my  pony  one  day,  I  set  out  down  the 
Medicine  ahead  of  the  command,  intending  to  hunt  wild  tur 
keys  until  near  night,  and  then  rejoin  the  command  before  it 
went  into  camp.  The  creek  bottom  was  alive  with  turkeys, 
the  cold  weather  having  driven  them  to  take  shelter  among  the 
bushes  that  lined  the  creek.  I  had  not  gone  far  when  a  dense 
fog  arose,  shutting  out  all  objects,  even  at  the  distance  of  a  few 
feet.  It  was  a  bad  day  for  hunting,  but  presently  as  I  rode 
along  I  heard  a  turkey  gobble  close  by,  and,  dismounting,  I 
crept  through  the  bushes  and  peered  into  the  fog  as  well  as  I 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  319 

could.  I  saw  several  dark  objects,  and  drawing  up  my  double- 
barreled  shot-gun,  fired  at  them.  Hardly  had  the  noise  of  the 
explosion  died  away,  when  I  heard  a  great  flopping  in  the 
bushes,  and  on  going  up  to  it  found  a  large  turkey  making  his 
last  kicks.  I  picked  him  up  and  was  about  to  turn  away, 
when  T  saw  another  fine  old  gobbler  desperately  wounded,  but 
trying  to  crawl  off".  I  ran  after  him,  but  he  hopped  along  so 
fast  I  was  obliged  to  give  him  the  contents  of  my  other  barrel 
to  keep  him  from  getting  away  into  the  thick  brush. 

I  had  now  two  fine  turkeys,  and,  as  the  day  was  bad,  de 
termined  to  go  no  further,  but  ascend  the  bluffs  and  wait  for 
the  command.  I  went  out  on  the  prairie,  and  made  a  diligent 
search  for  the  old  trail,  but,  as  it  was  covered  some  seven 
inches  deep  with  snow,  I  could  not  find  it.  Knowing  the 
command  would  pass  near  the  creek,  I  went  back  to  hunt, 
thinking  I  would  go  up  after  it  had  passed,  strike  the  trail, 
and  follow  it  into  camp.  I 

I  had  not  gone  far  down  the  creek  when  I  ran  into  a  fine 
elk,  and  knocked  him  over  with  my  Henry  rifle.  I  cut  off  the 
choice  pieces,  and,  packing  them  on  my  pony,  once  more  set 
out  to  find  the  trail.  I  knew  the  command  had  not  passed, 
and  ascended  the  highest  point  on  the  bluff,  straining  my  eyes 
to  see  if  I  could  not  discover  it  moving.  I  waited  several 
hours,  but  not  finding  it,  I  concluded  it  had  not  marched  by 
the  old  trail,  but  struck  straight  across  the  country.  I  now 
moved  up  the  creek,  determined  to  keep  along  its  bank  until 
I  came  to  the  old  camp,  and  then  follow  the  trail.  I  had  not 
gone  far  when  I  came  upon  two  Indians  who  belonged  to  my 
company,  and  who  were  also  looking  for  the  command. 

Night  was  coming  on,  the  wind  rising,  and  the  air  growing 
bitter  cold,  so  I  said  to  the  Indians  we  would  go  down  tne 


320  BELDEN :    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

creek  where  there  was  plenty  of  dry  wood,  and  make  a  night 
camp.  They  readily  assented,  and  we  set  out,  arriving  at  a 
fine  grove  just  before  dark. 

While  one  of  the  Indians  gathered  wood,  the  other  one  and 
I  cleared  away  the  snow  to  make  a  place  for  our  camp.  The 
snow  in  the  bottom  was  nearly  three  feet  deep,  and  when  we 
had  bared  the  ground  a  high  wall  was  piled  up  all  around 
us.  The  wood  was  soon  brought,  and  a  bright  fire  blazing. 
After  warming  ourselves  we  opened  a  passage  through  the 
snow  for  a  short  distance,  and,  clearing  another  spot,  led  our 
horses  into  this  most  perishable  of  stables.  Our  next  care 
was  to  get  them  some  cottonwood  limbs  to  eat,  *  and  then  we 
gathered  small  dry  limbs  and  made  a  bedstead  of  them  on 
which  to  spread  our  blankets.  Piling  on  more  wood  until  the 
fire  roared  and  cracked,  we  sat  down  in  the  heat  of  the  blaze, 
feeling  quite  comfortable,  except  that  we  were  desperately 
hungry.  Some  coals  were  raked  out,  the  neck  of  the  elk  cut 
off  and  spitted  on  a  stick  to  roast.  When  it  was  done  we 
divided  it,  and,  sprinkling  it  with  a  little  pepper  and  salt  from 
our  haversacks,  had  as  savory  and  wholesome  a  repast  as  any 
epicure  might  desire.  After  supper,  hearing  the  cayotes  howl 
ing  in  the  woods  below,  I  had  the  Indians  bring  in  my  saddle, 
to  which  was  strapped  the  elk  meat,  and,  cutting  the  limb  off  a 
tree  close  by  the  fire,  we  lifted  the  saddle  astride  of  the  stump 
so  high  up  that  the  wolves  could  not  reach  it.  All  being  now 

*The  Indians  often  feed  their  horses  on  cottonwood  limbs.  Officers 
on  the  plains  give  their  horses  cottonwood  to  eat  when  they  can  get 
no  feed  or  grass,  and  say  the  bark  of  the  cottonwood  is  almost  as 
nutritious  as  hay.  A  horse  will  chew  up  limbs  as  thick  as  a  man's 
thumb,  and  in  winter-time  eat  the  bark  off  every  cottonwood  tree  he  can 
reach. — EDITOR. 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  321 

in  readiness  for  the  night,  we  filled  our  pipes  and  sat  down  to 
smoke  and  talk. 

At  nine  o'clock  the  Indians  replenished  the  fire,  and,  feeling 
sleepy,  I  wrapped  myself  in  my  blankets  and  lay  down  to  rest. 
I  soon  fell  asleep,  and  slept  well  until  near  midnight,  when  I 
was  awakened  by  the  snapping  and  snarling  of  the  wolves  near 
the  fire.  The  wood  had  burned  down  to  a  bed  of  coals,  and 
gave  but  a  faint  light,  but  I  could  see  a  dozen  pair  of  red  eyes 
glaring  at  me  over  the  edge  of  the  snow-bank.  The  Indians 
were  sound  asleep,  and,  knowing  they  were  very  tired,  I  did  not 
awake  them,  but  got  my  gun,  and,  wrapping  myself  in  my 
blankets,  sat  up  by  the  fire  to  watch  the  varmints  and  warm  my 
feet.  Presently  I  heard  a  long  wild  howl  down  in  the  woods, 
and  knew  by  the  "  whirr-ree,  whirr-ree  "  in  it  that  it  proceeded 
from  the  throat  of  the  dreaded  buffalo  wolf,  or  Kosh-S-nee,  of 
the  prairies.  There  was  another  howl,  then  another,  and 
another,  and,  finally,  a  loud  chorus  of  a  dozen.  Instantly 
silence  fell  among  the  cayotes,  and  they  began  to  scatter.  For 
a  time  all  was  quiet,  and  I  had  begun  to  doze,  when  suddenly 
the  coals  flew  all  over  me,  and  I  opened  my  eyes  just  in  time 
to  see  a  great  gray  wolf  spring  out  of  the  fire  and  bound  up 
the  snow-bank.  I  leaped  to  my  feet  and  peered  into  the  dark 
ness,  where  I  could  see  scores  of  dark  shadows  moving  about, 
and  a  black  cluster  gathered  under  my  saddle.  I  called  the  In 
dians,  who  quietly  and  nimbly  jumped  to  their  feet,  and  came 
forward  armed  with  their  revolvers.  I  told  them  what  had 
happened,  and  that  we  were  surrounded  by  a  large  pack  of  gray 
wolves.  We  had  no  fear  for  ourselves,  but  felt  uneasy  lest 
they  might  attack  our  horses,  who  were  pawing  and  snorting 
with  alarm.  I  spoke  to  them  kindly,  and  they  immediately 

became  quiet.     At  the  suggestion  of  the  Indians  I  brought 

28 


322  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

forward  my  revolvers,  and  we  all  sat  down  to  watch  the  var 
mints,  and  see  what  they  would  do. 

In  a  few  minutes,  a  pair  of  fiery,  red  eyes,  looked  down  at 
us  from  the  snow-bank;  then,  another  and  another  pair,  until 
there  were  a  dozen.  We  sat  perfectly  still,  and  presently  one 
great  gray  wolf  gathered  himself,  and  made  a  leap  for  the  elk- 
meat  on  the  saddle.  He  nearly  touched  it  with  his  nose,  but 
failed  to  secure  the  coveted  prize,  and  fell  headlong  into  the  fire. 
We  fired  two  shots  into  him,  and  he  lay  still  until  one  of  the 
Indians  pulled  him  out  to  keep  his  hair  from  burning  and 
making  a  disagreeable  smell.  In  about  five  minutes,  another 
wolf  leaped  at  the  elk-meat  and  fell  at  our  feet.  We  dispatched 
him  as  we  had  done  the  first  one,  and  then  threw  him  across 
the  body  of  his  dead  brother.  So  we  kept  on  firing  until  we 
had  killed  eight  wolves,  when,  tired  of  killing  the  brutes  with 
pistols,  I  brought  out  my  double-barreled  shot  gun,  and  load 
ing  each  barrel  with  nine  buck-shot,  waited  until  they  were 
gathered  thick  un.der  the  tree  on  which  hung  my  meat,  and  then 
let  them  have  it.  Every  discharge  caused  some  to  tumble 
down,  and  sent  the  rest  scampering  and  howling  to  the  rear. 
Presently  they  became  more  wary,  and  I  had  to  fire  at  them  at 
long  range. 

The  Indians  now  went  out  and  gathered  some  dry  limbs, 
and  we  kindled  up  a  bright  fire.  Next  we  threw  the  car 
casses  of  the  nine  dead  wolves,  that  were  in  our  camp, 
over  the  snow-bank,  and  knowing  that  the  beasts  would 
not  come  near  our  bright  fire,  two  of  us  lay  down  to 
sleep,  while  the  third  remained  up  to  watch  and  keep  the  fire 
burning. 

The  cayotes  now  returned,  and  with  unearthly  yells,  attacked 
their  dead  betters,  snapping,  snarling,  and  quarreling  over  their 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF.  32 J 

carcasses  as  they  tore  the  flesh  and  craunched  the  bones  of  the 
dead  wolves. 

We  rose  at  daylight,  and,  through  the  dim  light,  could  see 
the  cayotes  trotting  off  to  the  swamp,  while  near  the  camp  lay 
heads,  legs,  and  piles  of  cleanly  licked  bones,  all  that  was  left 
of  the  gray  wolves  we  had  killed. 

.  After  breakfast,  we  set  out  to  find  the  command,  striking 
across  the  country,  expecting  to  come  upon  the  trail.  We 
traveled  all  day,  however,  and  saw  no  trail.  At  night  we 
camped  out  again,  and  were  scarcely  in  camp,  when  we  again 
heard  the  wolves  howling  all  around  us.  They  had  followed 
us  all  day,  no  doubt  expecting  another  repast,  such  as  had  been 
served  to  them  the  night  before.  We,  however,  kept  a  bright 
fire  burning,  and  no  gray  wolves  came  about;  so  the  cayotes 
were  disappointed,  and  vented  their  disappointment  all  night 
long  in  the  most  dismal  howls  I  ever  heard.  At  times,  it 
seemed  as  though  there  were  five  hundred  of  them,  and  join 
ing  their  voices  in  chorus,  they  would  send  up  a  volume  of 
sound  that  resembled  the  roar  of  a  tempest,  or  the  discordant 
singing  of  a  vast  multitude  of  people. 

While  we  cooked  breakfast,  a  strong  picket  of  wolves 
watched  all  around  the  camp,  feasting  their  greedy  eyes  from  a 
distance  on  my  elk-meat.  When  we  started  from  camp,  a  hun 
dred  or  more  of  them  followed  us,  often  coming  quite  close  to 
the  pack-pony,  and  biting  and  quarreling  about  the  elk  that  was 
never  to  be  their  meat.  When  we  halted,  they  would  halt, 
and  sitting  down,  loll  out  their  red  tongues  and  lick  the 
snow.  At  length,  I  took  my  shot-gun,  and  loading  the 
barrels,  fired  into  the  thickest  of  the  pack.  Two  or  three 
were  wounded,  and  no  sooner  did  their  companions  discover 
that  they  were  bleeding  and  disabled,  than  they  fell  upon 


324  BELDEN  I   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

them,  tore  them  to  pieces,  and  devoured  every  morsel  of  theii 
flesh.  I  had  seen  men  who  would  do  the  same  thing  with 
their  fellows,  but  until  I  witnessed  the  contrary  with  my  own 
eyes,  I  had  supposed  this  practice  was  confined  to  the  superior 
brute  creation. 

The  third  day  out,  finding  no  trace  of  the  command,  we 
concluded  to  go  back  to  the  Medicine  and  seek  the  old  camp, 
from  which  place  we  could  take  the  trail  and  follow  up  until  we 
came  upon  it.  We  reached  the  Medicine  at  sun-down,  and 
there,  to  our  satisfaction,  found  the  troops  still  in  camp,  where 
we  had  left  them,  they  not  having  marched  in  consequence  of 
the  cold  and  foggy  weather. 

I  was  soon  in  my  own  tent  and  sound  asleep,  being  thoroughly 
worn  out  with  +he  exposure  and  fatigue  of  my  long  journey. 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  325 


CHAPTER    XLYIII. 

HUNTING  MY  PONY  ON  THE  PRAIEIE — CAUGHT  BY  INDIANS — HOW  I  FOOLED 
THEM — WAYLAYING  THE  STAGE-COACH — A  NICE  OCCUPATION  FOE  A  UNITED 
STATES  OFFICER — A  DISAPPOINTMENT  TO  THE  INDIANS,  BUT  NOT  TO  ME — THE 
INDIANS  BECOME  IMPATIENT  AND  LEAVE — LEFT  BEHIND — RUNNING  TO  THE 
RANCHE — THE  COACH — ITS  CONDITION — THE  ATTACK — THE  RESULT — SAFE 
AT  THE  RANCHE. 

T  WAS  sent  down  from  Camp  Cottonwood  (now  Fort 
•*•  McPherson),  with  thirty  men,  to  Oilman's  Ranche,  fifteen 
miles  east  of  Cottonwood  on  the  Platte,  where  I  was  to  re 
main,  guard  the  ranche,  and  furnish  guards  to  Ben  Holliday's 
overland  stage  coaches.  In  those  days,  Oilman's  was  an 
important  place,  and  in  earlier  times,  had  been  a  great  trading 
point  for  the  Sioux.  Two  or  three  trails  led  from  the  Repub 
lican  to  this  place,  and  every  winter  the  Sioux  had  come  in 
with  their  rponies  loaded  down  with  buffalo,  beaver,  elk,  and 
deer  skins,  which  they  exchanged  with  the  traders  at  Oilman's. 
War  had,  however,  put  a  stop  to  these  peaceful  pursuits ;  still 
the  Sioux  could  not  give  up  the  habit  of  traveling  these  favorite 
trails.  The  ponies  often  come  in  from  the  Republican,  not  now 
laden  with  furs  and  robes,  but  each  bearing  a  load  of  beastiality 
called  a  Sioux  warrior.  The  overland  coaches  offered  a  great 
temptation  to  the  cupidity  and  vices  of  the  Sioux,  and  they 
were  not  slow  to  avail  themselves  of  any  opportunity  to  attack 


326  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

them.  The  coaches  carried  the  mails  and  much  treasure,  and 
if  the  savages  could  now  and  then  succeed  in  capturing  one, 
they  got  money,  jewels,  scalps,  horses,  and  not  unfrequently 
white  women,  as  a  reward  for  their  enterprise. 

Troops  were  stationed  in  small  squads  at  every  station, 
about  ten  miles  apart,  and  they  rode  from  station  to  station  on 
the  top  of  all  coaches,  holding  their  guns  ever  ready  fois  action. 
It  was  not  pleasant,  this  sitting  perched  up  on  top  of  a  coach, 
riding  through  dark  ravines  and  tall  grass,  in  which  savages 
were  ever  lurking.  Generally,  the  first  fire  from  the  Indians 
killed  one  or  two  horses,  and  tumbled  a  soldier  or  two  off  the 
top  of  the  coach.  This  setting  one's  self  up  as  a  sort  of  target, 
was  a  disagreeable  and  dangerous  duty,  but  the  soldiers  per 
formed  it  without  murmuring.  My  squad  had  to  ride  up  to 
Cottonwood,  and  down  to  the  station  below,  where  they  waited 
for  the  next  coach  going  the  other  way  and  returned  by  it  to 
their  post  at  Oilman's.  All  the  other  stations  were  guarded  in 
like  manner;  so  it  happened  that  every  coach  carried  some 
soldiers. 

One  evening  I  found  my  pony  missing,  and  thinking  he  had 
strayed  off  but  a  short  distance,  I  buckled  on  my  revolvers  and 
went  out  to  look  for  him.  I  had  not  intended  to  go  far,  but 
not  finding  him,  I  walked  on,  and  on,  until  I  found  myself 
some  four  miles  from  the  ranche.  Alarmed  at  my  indiscretion, 
for  I  knew  the  country  was  full  of  Indians,  I  hastily  set  out  to 
return,  and  as  it  was  now  growing  dark,  I  determined  to  go  up 
a  ravine  that  led  to  the  post  by  a  nearer  route  than  the  trail.  I 
had  got  nearly  to  the  end  of  the  ravine,  where  the  stage-road 
crossed  it,  and  was  about  to  turn  out  into  the  road  when,  on 
looking  up  the  bank,  I  saw  on  the  crest  of  the  slope,  some  dark 
objects.  At  first,  I  thought  they  were  ponies,  for  they  were 


BELDEN:   THE    WHITE   CHIEF.  327 

moving  on  all  fours,  and  directly  toward  the  road.  I  ran  up 
the  bank,  and  had  not  gone  more  than  ten  yards,  when  I  heard 
voices,  and  looking  round,  saw  within  a  dozen  steps  of  me,  five 
or  six  Indians  lying  on  the  grass,  and  talking  in  low  tones. 
They  had  noticed  me,  but  evidently  thought  I  was  one  of  their 
own  number.  Divining  the  situation  in  a  moment,  I  walked 
carelessly  on  until  near  the  crest  of  the  hill,  where  I  suddenly 
came  upon  a  dozen  more  Indians,  crawling  along  on  their  hands 
and  knees.  One  of  them  gruffly  ordered  me  down,  and  I  am 
sure  I  lost  no  time  in  dropping  into  the  grass.  Crawling  care 
fully  along,  for  I  knew  it  would  not  do  to  stop,  I  still  managed 
to  keep  a  good  way  behind  and  off  to  one  side.  "We  at  last 
reached  the  road,  and  the  Indians,  gun  in  hand,  took  up  their 
position  in  the  long  grass  close  by  the  road-side.  I  knew  the 
up-coach  would  be  due  at  the  station  in  half  an  hour,  and  I 
now  found  myself  in  the  unpleasant  position  of  waylaying  one 
of  the  very  coaches  I  had  been  sent  to  guard.  Perhaps,  one  of 
my  own  soldiers  coming  up  on  the  coach  would  kill  me,  and 
then  what  would  people  say?  how  would  my  presence  with  the 
Indians  be  explained?  and  how  would  it  sound  to  have  the 
newspapers  publish,  far  and  near,  that  an  officer  of  the  United 
States  army  had  deserted  his  post,  joined  the  Indians,  and 
attacked  a  stage-coach  ?  However,  there  was  no  help  for  it,  and 
I  lay  still  waiting  for  developments.  It  was  now  time  for  the 
coach,  and  we  watched  the  road  with  straining  eyes.  Two  or 
three  times  I  thought  I  heard  the  rumbling  of  the  wheels,  and 
a  tremor  seized  me,  but  it  was  only  the  wind  rustling  the  tall 
grass.  An  hour  went  by,  and  still  no  coach,  when  the  Indians, 
becoming  uneasy — one  who  seemed  to  be  the  leader  of  the 
expedition,  rose  up,  and  motioning  the  others  to  follow  him — 
started  off  down  the  hill  toward  the  ravine.  I  made  a  motion 
20 


328  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

as  if  getting  up,  and  seeing  the  Indians  backs  turned,  dropped 
flat  on  my  face  and  lay  perfectly  still.  Slowly  their  footsteps 
faded  away,  and  raising  my  head,  I  saw  them  mount  their 
ponies  and  disappear  over  the  neighboring  hill,  as  if  going 
down  the  road  to  meet  the  coach. 

As  soon  as  they  were  out  of  sight,  I  sprang  up  and  ran  as 
fast  as  I  could  to  the  ranche  when,  relating  what  had  happened, 
I  started  with  some  soldiers  and  citizens  down  the  road  to  meet 
the  stage.  We  had  not  gone  far  when  we  heard  it  coming  up, 
and  on  reaching  it,  found  it  had  been  attacked  by  Indians  a  few 
miles  below,  one  passenger  killed  and  two  severely  wounded. 
The  coach  had  but  three  horses,  one  having  been  killed  in  the 
fight.  The  Indians  had  dashed  at  the  coach  mounted,  hoping 
to  kill  the  horses,  and  thus  cut  off  all  means  of  retreat  or  flight, 
but  they  had  only  succeeded  in  killing  one  horse,  when  the 
passengers  and  soldiers  had  driven  them  off,  compelling  them  to 
carry  two  of  their  number  with  them,  dead  or  desperately 
wounded. 

I  was  more  careful  after  that,  when  I  went  out  hunting 
ponies,  and  never  tried  again  to  waylay  a  coach  with  Indians. 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF  329 


CHAPTER   XLIX. 

CAPTURING    TWO    SIOUX   WARRIORS   AT    GILMAN*S    RANCHE — MY   PET    INDIANS — 
WAR     DANCES    AND    SONGS — THE    ENTRAPPED     OGALLALAS — ESCAPE    OF    THK 

WARRIOR    AND     PONIES — MORE    DANCING — AN    UNPLEASANT     REQUEST THB 

REFUSAL — WHAT  CAME  OF  IT — SPRINGER'S  ADVICE — FATE  OF  THE  TWO 
SIOUX — THEIR  HEROISM  AND  ENDURANCE — TERRIBLE  BARBARITY  OF  SAVAGES 
— WHAT  THEY  HAD  TO  SAY  ABOUT  IT. 

AMONG  the  soldiers  stationed  at  Oilman's  Ranche,  were  a 
number  of  Omaha  and  Winnebago  Indians,  who  belonged 
to  my  company,  in  the  First  Nebraska  Cavalry.  I  had  done  all 
I  could  to  teach  them  the  ways  of  civilization,  but  despite  my 
instructions,  and  their  utmost  endeavors  to  give  over  their  wild 
and  barbarous  practices,  every  now  and  then  old  habits  would 
become  too  strong  upon  them  to  be  borne,  and  they  would  in 
dulge  in  the  savage  customs  of  their  youth.  At  such  times 
they  would  throw  aside  their  uniforms,  and,  wrapping  a  blanket 
about  them,  sing  and  dance  for  hours. 

One  evening  they  were  in  a  particularly  jolly  mood,  and  hav 
ing  obtained  permission  to  have  a  dance,  went  out  in  front 
of  the  building,  and  for  want  of  a  better  scalp-pole,  assembled 
around  one  of  the  telegraph  poles.  One  fellow  pounded  lustily 
on  a  piece  of  leather  nailed  over  the  mouth  of  a  keg,  while  the 

others  hopped  around  in  a  circle,  first  upon  one  leg,  then  the 

29 


330  BELDEN:    THE    WHITE   CHIEF. 

other,  shaking  oyster-cans  over  their  heads,  that  had  been  filled 
with  pebbles,  and  keeping  time  to  the  rude  music,  with  a  sort 
of  guttural  song.  Now  it  would  be  low  and  slow,  and  the 
dancers  barely  move,  then,  increasing  in  volume  and  rapidity, 
it  would  become  wild  and  vociferous,  the  dancers  walking  very 
fast,  much  as  the  negroes  do  in  their  "  walk  arounds."  We  had 
had  all  manner  of  dances  and  songs,  and  enough  drumming  and 
howling  to  have  made  any  one  tired,  still  the  Indians  seemed 
only  warming  up  to  their  work.  The  savage  frenzy  was  upon 
them,  and  I  let  them  alone  until  near  midnight.  Their  own 
songs  and  dances  becoming  tiresome,  I  asked  them  to  give  me 
some  Sioux  songs,  for  I  had  been  thinking  all  the  evening  of 
the  village  up  the  Missouri  and  my  squaws.  The  Indians  im 
mediately  struck  up  a  Sioux  war  song,  accompanying  it  with 
the  war  dance. 

All  the  Indian  songs  and  dances  are  terminated  with  a 
jump,  and  a  sort  of  wild  yell  or  whoop.  When  they  had  danced 
the  Sioux  war  song,  and  ended  it  with  the  usual  whoop,  what 
was  our  surprise  to  hear  the  cry  answered  back  at  no  great 
distance,  out  on  the  prairie.  At  first  I  thought  it  was  the  echo, 
but  Springer,  a  half-breed  Indian,  assured  me  what  I  had  heard 
was  the  cry  of  other  Indians.  To  satisfy  myself,  I  bade  the 
Indians  repeat  the  song  and  dance,  and  this  time,  sure  enough, 
when  it  was  ended  the  whoop  was  answered  quite  near  the 
ranche.  I  went  inside,  lest  my  uniform  could  be  seen,  and 
telling  Springer  to  continue  the  dance,  I  went  to  a  back  window 
and  looked  out,  in  the  direction  from  which  the  sound  appeared 
to  come. 

The  moon  was  just  rising,  and  I  could  distinctly  see  three 
Indian  warriors  sitting  on  their  ponies,  within  a  few  hundred 
paces  of  the  house.  They  seemed  to  be  intently  watching 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  331 

what  was  going  on,  and  were  by  no  means  certain  as  to  the 
character  of  the  performers  or  performance.  At  a  glance,  I 
made  them  out  to  be  our  deadly  enemies,  the  Ogallala  Sioux, 
and  determined  to  catch  them.  I  quickly  called  Springer,  and 
bid  him  kindle  a  small  fire,  and  tell  the  Indians  to  strike  up 
the  death  song  and  scalp  dance  of  the  Sioux.  This,  as  I  ex 
pected,  at  once  re-assured  the  strange  warriors,  and,  riding  up 
quite  close,  they  asked  Springer,  who  was  not  dancing,  and  who 
had  purposely  put  himself  in  their  way, 

"  What  are  you  dancing  for  ?  * 

"  Dancing  the  scalps  of  four  white  soldiers  we  have  killed," 
replied  Springer. 

"How  did  you  kill  them,"  inquired  the  foremost  Indian 
warrior. 

"  You  see,"  said  Springer,  who,  being  part  Sioux,  spoke  the 
language  perfectly,  "  we  were  coming  down  from  the  Neobarrab, 
and  going  over  to  the  Republican  to  see  Spotted  Tail  and  our 
friends  the  Ogallalas,  when  some  soldiers  fired  on  us  here,  and 
seeing  there  were  but  four  of  them,  we  attacked  and  killed  them 
all.  They  are  now  lying  dead  inside,"  added  Springer;  "  come, 
get  down  and  help  dance  their  scalps." 

Two  of  the  warriors  immediately  dismounted,  giving  their 
ponies  to  the  third  one  to  hold,  who  remained  mounted. 
Springer  seemed  to  take  no  notice  of  this,  but  leading  the 
warriors  up  to  the  dance,  joined  in  with  them,  the  other  Indians 
making  room  in  the  circle  for  the  new-comers. 

When  the  dance  was  ended,  Springer  said,  "  Come,  let  us  bring 
out  the  scalps,"  and  turning  to  the  two  Indians,  inquired,  "  Will 
you  look  at  the  bodies?"  About  half  the  Indians  had  already 
gone  into  the  ranche,  under  pretense  of  getting  the  scalps,  and 


332  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

the  two  Sioux  walked  in  with  Springer,  apparently  without 
suspicion  that  any  thing  was  wrong. 

'As  soon  as  they  had  crossed  the  threshold  the  door  was  closed 
behind  them,  and  two  burly  Omahas  placed  their  backs  against 
it.  It  was  entirely  dark  in  the  ranche,  and  Springer  proceeded 
to  strike  a  light.  When  the  blaze  of  the  dry  grass  flared  up  it 
revealed  every  thing  in  the  room,  and  there  stood  the  two  Sioux, 
surrounded  by  Omahas,  and  a  dozen  revolvers  leveled  at  their 
heads. 

Never  shall  I  forget  the  yell  of  rage  and  terror  they  set  up, 
when  they  found  they  were  entrapped.  The  Sioux  warrior 
outside,  who  was  holding  the  ponies,  heard  it,  and  plunging 
his  heels  into  the  sides  of  his  pony,  made  off  as  fast  as  he 
could.  Notwithstanding  my  men  fired  a  dozen  "shots  at  him, 
he  got  off  safely,  and  carried  away  with  him  all  three  of  the 
ponies. 

The  two  Sioux  in  the  ranche  were  bound  hand  and  foot,  and 
laid  in  one  corner  of  the  room ;  then  my  Indians  returned  to  the 
telegraph  pole  to  finish  their  dance.  Feeling  tired,  I  lay  down 
and  feel  asleep. 

Near  morning  I  was  awakened  by  most  unearthly  yells, 
and  looking  out,  saw  my  Indians  leaping,  dancing,  and  yelling 
around  the  telegraph  pole,  where  they  now  had  a  large  fire 
burning.  Presently  Springer  came  in  and  said  the  Indians 

0 

wanted  the  prisoners.  I  told  him  they  could  not  have  them, 
and  that  in  the  morning  I  would  send  them  to  Col.  Brown, 
at  McPherson,  as  was  my  duty.  Springer,  who  was  a  non 
commissioned  officer,  communicated  this  message  to  the  Indians, 
when  the  yelling  and  howling  redoubled.  In  a  short  time 
Springer  came  in  again,  and  said  he  could  do  nothing  with  the 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF.  335 

Indians,  and  that  they  were  determined  to  have  the  prisoners, 
at  the  same  time  advising  me  to  give  them  up.  I  again  refused, 
when  the  Indians  rushed  into  the  ranche,  and,  seizing  the 
prisoners,  dragged  them  out.  Seeing  they  were  frenzied  I 
made  no  resistance,  but  followed  them  closely,  keeping  con 
cealed,  however. 

They  took  the  Sioux  to  an  island  on  the  Platte,  below  the 
ranche,  and  there,  tying  them  to  a  tree,  gathered  a  pile  of  wood 
and  set  it  on  fire.  Then  they  thrust  faggots  against  the  naked 
bodies  of  the  prisoners,  stuck  their  knives  into  their  legs,  arms, 
and  finally  into  their  bowels.  They  next  cut  off  their  ears  and 
noses,  and  then  their  hands,  after  which  they  scalped  and  dis- 
embowled  them.  The  Sioux  uttered  not  a  complaint,  but  en 
dured  all  their  sufferings  with  that  stoicism  for  which  the  Indian 
is  so  justly  celebrated,  and  which  belongs  to  no  other  race  in  the 
world. 

Sick  at  heart,  I  crept  back  to  the  ranche  and  went  to  bed, 
leaving  the  Indians  engaged  in  a  furious  scalp  dance,  and 
whirling  the  bloody  scalps  of  the  Sioux  over  their  heads,  with 
long  poles  to  which  they  had  them  fastened. 

Next  morning,  when  I  awoke,  I  found  the  Indians  wrapped 
in  their  blankets,  and  lying  asleep  all  around  me.  The  excite 
ment  of  the  night  had  passed  off,  and  brought  its  corresponding 
depression.  They  were  very  docile  and  stupid,  and  it  was  with 
some  difficulty  I  could  arouse  them  for  the  duties  of  the  day. 
I  asked  several  of  them  what  had  become  of  the  Sioux  prisoners, 
but  could  get  no  other  answer  than,  "  Guess  him  must  have  got 
away." 

I  was  sorely  tempted  to  report  the  affair  to  the  commanding 
officer  at  Fort  McPherson,  and  have  the  Indians  punished,  but 


336  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

believing  it  would  do  more  good  in  the  end  to  be  silent,  I  said 
nothing  about  it.  After  all,  the  Omahas  and  Winnebagoes  had 
treated  the  Sioux  just  as  the  Sioux  would  have  treated  them, 
had  they  been  captured,  and  so,  it  being  a  matter  altogether 
among  savages,  I  let  it  rest  where  it  belonged. 


BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  337 


CHAPTER       L. 

GUARDING  JACK    MORROW'S   RANCHE — AN   ADVENTURE    WITH    WOOD-HAULERS — 
CAMPAIGNING  ALONG  THE  PLATTE — MY  INDIAN   SOLDIERS — HOW  WE    OPENED 

THE  STABLE — WHAT  THE  WOOD-HAULERS    SAID    ABOUT  IT — A  SURPRISE SAD 

ATTEMPT     AT     JOKING FIXING     UP    JACK     MORROW'S     PROPERTY — OFF    FOB 

OMAHA. 

T  WAS  for  a  time,  in  1865,  on  duty  at  Fort  Cottonwood, 
-*•  Nebraska,  as  adjutant  of  my  regiment,  the  First  Nebraska 
Vol.  Cavalry,  when  the  scarcity  of  officers  at  the  post  made  it 
necessary  for  the  commanding  officer  to  detail  me,  with  thirty 
Indian  soldiers,  to  proceed  to,  and  garrison  Jack  Morrow's 
ranche,  twelve  miles  west  of  the  fort,  on  the  south  side  of  the 
Platte  River.  The  Sioux  were  very  hostile  then,  and  it  was 
an  ordinary  occurrence  for  ranches  to  be  burned  and  the  owners 
killed. 

Morrow's  ranche,  unlike  the  little,  low,  adobe  ranches  every 
where  seen,  was  a  large  three-story  building,  with  out-buildings 
adjacent,  and  a  fine  large  stable  for  stock,  the  whole  being  well 
surrounded  by  a  commodious  stockade  of  cedar  palisades,  set 
deep  in  the  ground,  and  projecting  to  the  height  of  about  ten  or 
twelve  feet  above  the  surface. 

Upon  arriving  at  the  ranche,  late  at  night,  my  usually  noisy 
Indians  were  quietly  sleeping  in  the  huge  ox-wagons,  which 
had  been  provided  for  transportation.  I  found  the  front  of  the 


338  BELDEN  :   THE  WHITE   CHIEF. 

ranche  lit  up  by  fires  built  between  the  stockade  and  the  build 
ings  on  a  narrow  strip  of  ground,  serving  for  a  front  yard.  I 
had  been  informed  by  the  commanding  officer  at  Cottonwood, 
that  Mr.  Morrow  was  not  living  at  his  ranche,  but  was  away, 
East,  and  the  object  in  sending  me  there  was  to  prevent  the 
Indians  from  burning  so  valuable  a  property.  I  was  not  pre 
pared  to  find  a  party  encamped  at  the  ranche,  and  not  knowing 
but  that  they  might  be  Indians,  waiting  in  so  favorable  a  spot 
to  waylay  travelers  or  emigrants  passing  the  road  in  front  of 
the  stockade,  I  told  my  drivers  to  halt  their  teams,  and, 
quietly  awakening  my  Indians,  I  bade  them  be  in  readiness  to 
rush  up  if  I  should  give  them  a  signal  by  yelling,  but  to  remain 
in  the  wagons  until  I  called  them,  and  to  make  no  noise.  I 
then  quietly  rode  forward  to  reconnoiter,  and  as  the  stockade 
timbers  were  set  very  close  together,  I  had  to  crawl  up  to  the 
loop-holes  cut  in  the  timbers  to  see  what  was  going  on  inside. 
Standing  on  the  ground,  and  holding  my  pony's  nose  with  my 
hand  to  keep  him  quiet,  I  stood  on  my  tip-toes,  and  could  see, 
through  one  of  the  loop-holes,  a  curious  sight,  but  one  natural 
enough  on  the  frontier. 

Grouped  around  three  small  fires,  built  close  to  the  front  of 
the  ranche,  sat  some  ten  or  twelve  browned  and  weather-beaten 
men,  whose  hair  hung  to  their  shoulders,  and  each  one  of  whom 
wore  a  slouched  hat,  a  pair  of  revolvers,  and  a  good  stout  knife, 
the  inseparable  companions  of  a  western  prairie  man.  All  were 
intent  on  eating  supper  of  fried  bacon,  slapjacks,  and  coffee. 

They  had  no  guard,  doubtless  feeling  secure  in  their  number 
and  means  of  defense,  against  any  Indian  attatk  that  might  be 
made.  "  Hello ! "  I  shouted,  "  have  you  got  supper  enough  for 
one  more  ?  "  "  Yes,  if  you  are  white  or  red ;  but  if  black,  no," 
was  answered  back,  with  an  invitation  "  to  show  "  myself.  I 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  339 

led  the  pony  across  the  narrow  trench  which  ran  around  the 
stockade,  and,  mounting  him,  rode  into  the  yard.  As  I  ap 
proached  the  party  I  overheard  remarks,  such  as,  "An  army 
cuss;"  "One  of  those  little  stuck-up  officers."  But  not  ap 
pearing  to  have  heard  them,  I  got  down,  and  asked  what  party 
they  were.  "  Wood-haulers,"  they  replied  ;  "  taking  building 
logs  down  the  road ; "  followed  by  "  Who  are  you,  and  where 
are  you  going  this  late  at  night?"  I  told  them  who  I  was, 
and  that  I  had  now  finished  my  journey,  as  I  intended  to  stop 
there.  I  was  immediately  informed  in  a  curt  manner  that 
they  guessed  it  was  rather  "  mixed "  about  staying  there,  if  I 
had  any  stock  along,  for  the  stables  were  full,  and  the  ranche, 
too;  and  they  had  no  room  for  any  additional  people  or  stock. 
I  told  them  that  I  had  two  teams  standing  outside,  and  that  it 
was  my  intention  to  put  the  mules  and  my  pony  in  the  stable  ; 
and  if  there  was  no  room  there,  I  should  make  room  by  turning 
out  some  of  their  animals.  To  this  I  was  plainly  told  that  I 
could  neither  turn  a  mule  out  or  put  an  animal  in,  nor  could 
I  remain  at  the  ranche,  which  they  had  occupied  for  their  own 
quarters,  Jack  Morrow  having  left  and  gone  East,  probably 
never  to  return.  They  said  they  were  a  little  stronger  in  num 
bers  than  myself  and  my  two  drivers,  and  I  must  move  on  or 
they  would  make  me.  I  told  them  that  I  was  a  United  States 
officer,  acting  under  orders,  and  that  it  would  be  an  easy  matter  for 
me  to  ride  back  to  Cottonwood  and  get  men  enough  to  enforce 
my  orders  unless  they  submitted.  Several  of  the  rough-look 
ing  fellows  said  that  they  each  carried  good  revolvers,  and  that 
it  was  an  easy  matter  to  stop  me  if  I  attempted  to  return  to 
Cottonwood,  and  swore  they  would  do  so.  I  remained  quiet 
for  a  moment,  and  the  leader  of  the  party,  looking  at  me, 
asked:  "  What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?"  "I  am  going 


340  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

to  open  the  stables  and  put  my  animals  in  shelter,"  I  replied, 
at  the  same  time  mounting  my  pony  and  riding  out  to  the 
stables,  a  short  distance  in  front  of  which  stood  my  teams. 
Several  of  the  frontiersmen  got  up,  and,  without  saying  a  word, 
walked  to  the  stables,  and  went  up  close  to  the  doors.  I  or 
dered  the  teamsters  to  drive  to  the  stables,  unharness  from  the 
heavy  ox-wagons,  place  their  teams  inside,  and  if  they  could 
not  find  vacant  stalls  enough,  to  untie  and  turn  loose  mules  to 
empty  the  required  number  for  my  teams.  The  teamsters 
obeyed  by  driving  up,  and  when  they  had  dismounted  and  were 
about  to  unhitch  from  the  wagons,  one  of  the  wood-haulers  at 
the  stable  door  said :  "  You  can  save  yourself  the  trouble,  mis 
ter,  of  unhitching  them  mules,  for  you  aint  agoing  to  put  them 
in  this  stable ;  and  the  first  man  that  attempts  it  I  '11  fix." 

"  Suppose  I  wish  to  open  that  door  and  put  up  my  teams," 
said  I,  " without  any  trouble;  wouldn't  it  be  better  for  all 
of  us?"  "You  go  to  h— 1!"  he  replied;  and  added,  "you 
won't  get  in  this  stable ;  that 's  settled."  "  I  '11  see  about 
that ! "  and  yelling  Turn  out !  Turn  out !  in  the  Indian  lan 
guage,  my  soldiers  jumped  from  the  canvas-covered  wagons, 
yelling  like  demons,  and  brandishing  their  carbines  and  re 
volvers  in  a  threatening  manner.  Never  were  men  so  taken 
back  as  the  wood-haulers.  They  were  sure  we  were  Sioux,  and 
started  to  run,  but  I  called  them  back.  Not  a  word  was  then 
spoken  while  my  Indians  led  the  mules,  that  were  now  un 
hitched,  into  the  stables. 

Leaving  the  teamsters  to  feed  and  water  their  animals,  I 
turned  my  pony  over  to  an  Omaha,  to  unsaddle,  and  marched 
my  soldiers  up  to  the  house,  of  which  I  took  possession.  The 
roughs  changed  their  tune,  and  tried  to  laugh  the  matter  off, 
saying  they  knew  all  the  time  the  wagons  were  full  of  sol- 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  341 

diers,  and  they  only  wanted  to  see  if  I  had  "  nerve."  I  told 
them  they  could  leave  their  teams  in  the  stables,  as  my  team 
sters  told  me  there  was  room  enough  yet  remaining  for  all  the 
mules,  but  that  in  the  morning  they  must  leave.  At  early 
light  they  were  off,  not,  however,  before  I  had  found  out  the 
names  of  the  leaders  of  the  gang.  The  doors  of  the  house 
had  been  taken  off  the  hinges,  and  the  framed  pine  used  to 
sleep  and  chop  meat  on,  all  being  marked  with  gashes  chopped 
in  them  with  axes.  The  windows  were  also  broken,  the  glass 
and  sashes  gone,  and  the  building  as  much  damaged  as  if  In 
dians  had  been  there  a  month.  I  did  all  I  could  to  save  the 
property  scattered  over  the  grounds,  and  remained  at  the  ranche 
some  weeks,  until  an  order  came  for  me  to  go  to  Omaha  as  a 
witness  before  the  United  States  Court. 


342  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    LI. 

MASSACRE  OF  COTTONWOOD  CANON — THE  SCURVY  AMONG  THE  TROOPS LACK   OY 

ANTI-SCORBUTICS— THEY  ARRIVE  AT  LAST — THE  DOCTOR'S  ADVICE THE  PLUM 

GROVE — CAPTAIN      MITCHELL'S     PARTY THE      INDIAN     ATTACK ESCAPE     OF 

WISE — DEATH  OF  BENTZ — A  RACE  FOR  LIFE — CORRALLED — UNFORTUNATE 
ACCIDENTS — PERILOUS  POSITION  OF  CAPTAIN  MITCHELL — SPOTTED  TAIL — DIS 
COVERY  OF  ANDERSON — A  DESPERATE  BATTLE — DEATH  OF  ANDERSON — IN 
DIAN  BARBARITY — MASSACRE  OF  THE  SICK  MEN — THE  ESCAPE  AND  PURSUIT — 
A  BOOTLESS  CHASE. 

"VTTHILE  the  troops  lay  at  Camp  Cottonwood,  now  Fort 
McPherson,  the  scurvy  broke  out  among  the  men  and 
caused  terrible  suffering.  There  were  no  anti-scorbutics  nearer 
than  Leavenworth,  Kansas,  which  could  be  had  for  issue  to 
troops,  and  before  these  could  be  received,  the  disease  increased 
to  an  alarming  extent.  At  last,  however,  the  remedies  arrived, 
and  the  men  began  rapidly  to  convalesce.  The  doctor  advised 
them  to  eat  wild  fruit  and  berries,  and  to  take  plenty  of  exer 
cise  in  the  open  air.  There  was  a  plum  grove  about  four  miles 
from  the  camp,  and  as  this  wild  fruit  was  very  wholesome,  the 
sick  men  went  out  nearly  every  day  to  gather  it. 

One  morning,  Captain  Mitchell,  of  the  Seventh  Iowa  Cav 
alry,  procured  an  ambulance,  and,  taking  with  him  a  driver 
named  Anderson,  an  orderly  named  Cramer,  and  seven  hos 
pital  patients,  started  for  the  plum  grove.  They  arrived  at  the 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  343 

first  grove  about  ten  o'clock,  and,  finding  that  most  of  the 
plums  had  been  gathered,  drove  on  to  another  grove  some  three 
miles  farther  up  the  cafion.  They  were  now  about  seven  miles 
from  camp,  too  far  to  be  safe,  but,  as  no  Indians  had  been  seen 
lately  in  the  country,  they  did  not  feel  uneasy.  At  the  upper 
grove  they  found  two  soldiers  of  the  First  Nebraska  Cavalry, 
named  Bentz  and  Wise,  who  had  been  sent  out  by  the  quarter 
master  to  look  for  stray  mules,  and  they  had  stopped  to  gather 
some  plums.  As  both  these  men  were  well  armed,  Captain 
Mitchell  attached  them  to  his  party,  and  felt  perfectly  secure. 

Bentz  and  Wise  went  up  the  cafion  a  little  way,  and  while 
eating  fruit  were  suddenly  fired  on  from  the  bushes  by  almost  a 
dozen  Indians.  At  the  first  volley,  Bentz  had  his  belt  cut 
away  by  a  ball,  and  lost  his  revolver.  The  soldiers  turned  to 
fly,  but,  as  they  galloped  off,  another  ball  entered  Bentz's  side, 
desperately  wounding  him.  They  now  rode  down  the  caflon, 
hoping  to  rejoin  Captain  Mitchell's  party,  but  soon  saw  a  body 
of  Indians  riding  down  the  bluff  ahead  of  them,  evidently  with 
the  design  of  cutting  them  off.  Wise  told  Bentz  to  ride  hard, 
at  the  same  time  handing  him  one  of  his  revolvers,  to  defend 
himself  in  case  of  emergency.  Bentz  was  very  feeble  and 
dizzy,  so  much  so,  indeed,  that  he  could  barely  sit  in  the 
saddle. 

Wise  was  mounted  on  a  superb  horse  belonging  to  Lieutenant 
Cutler,  which  he  had  taken  out  to  exercise,  and,  seeing  that  the 
Indians  would  head  them  off,  and  that  Bentz,  who  was  riding 
an  old  mule,  could  not  keep  up,  he  gave  the  powerful  brute  rein, 
and  shot  down  the  caflon  like  an  arrow.  He  passed  the  inter 
vening  Indians  in  safety,  just  as  three  of  them  dashed  out  of  a 
pocket  in  the  bluff  and  cut  off  poor  Bentz. 

Wise  saw  Bentz  knocked  from  his  mule,  and,  knowing  it 


344  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

was  Useless  to  try  to  save  him,  left  him  to  his  fate,  and  thought 
only  of  saving  his  own  life.  He  rode  hard  for  Captain  Mitchell, 
who  was  not  far  distant,  but  before  he  could  reach  him  another 
party  of  Sioux  headed  him  off,  and  he  turned  and  rode  up  the 
bluffs  to  the  flat  lands.  The  Indians  pursued  him,  and  made 
every  effort  to  kill  or  capture  him,  but  his  fine  horse  bore  him 
out  of  every  danger.  Three  times  he  was  cut  off  from  the 
camp,  but,  by  taking  a  wide  circuit,  he  managed  to  ride  around 
the  Indians,  and  at  last  succeeded  in  reaching  the  high  road 
above  the  camp.  As  many  settlers  lived  on  this  road,  the  In 
dians  did  not  venture  to  follow  him  along  it,  and  he  was  soon 
safely  housed  in  the  log-cabin  of  a  frontiersman,  and  relating 
his  adventures. 

Meanwhile  Captain  Mitchell,  having  seen  the  fate  of  Bentz 
and  escape  of  Wise,  made  haste  to  assemble  his  party,  and, 
lifting  those  who  were  too  weak  to  climb  into  the  wagon,  they 
set  off  for  the  camp.  Mitchell  and  Anderson  were  the  only 
two  of  the  party  who  had  arms,  but  they  assured  the  sick  men 
they  would  defend  them  to  the  last.  Anderson  took  the  lines 
and  drove,  while  Mitchell  seated  himself  in  the  rear  end  of  the 
ambulance,  with  a  Henry  rifle  to  keep  off  the  Indians. 

They  had  not  gone  far  before  they  came  upon  a  large  force 
of  warriors  drawn  up  across  the  cafion,  to  cut  off  their  retreat. 
The  bluffs  were  very  steep  and  high  on  both  sides  of  them,  and 
escape  seemed  impossible,  nevertheless  Mitchell  ordered  Ander 
son  to  run  his  team  at  the  right  hand  bluff  and  try  and  ascend 
it.  The  spirited  animals  dashed  up  the  steep  bank  and  drew 
the  wagon  nearly  half  way  up,  when  one  of  the  wheelers  balked 
and  nearly  overturned  the  wagon.  A  loud  yell  from  the  sav 
ages,  at  this  moment,  so  frightened  the  horses  that  they  sprang 
forward,  and  before  they  could  appreciate  it  they  were  over  the 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  347 

bluff  on  the  level  prairie,  and  flying  toward  the  camp  at  the 
rate  of  ten  miles  an  hour. 

They  now  began  to  hope,  but  had  only  gone  as  far  as  the  first 
plum  grcve  when  they  saw  the  Indians  circling  around  them, 
and  once  more  getting  between  them  and  the  post.  Still  they 
hoped  that  some  soldiers  might  be  in  the  first  grove  gathering 
plums,  or  that  Wise  had  reached  the  post  and  given  the  alarm, 
so  that  help  would  soon  come  to  them.  Captain  Mitchell  fired 
his  rifle  once  or  twice,  to  attract  the  attention  of  any  persons 
who  might  be  in  the  plum  grove,  but  there  was  no  response, 
and  Anderson  drove  rapidly  on. 

The  Indians  now  began  to  close  in  upon  the  ambulance  from 
all  sides.  They  would  ride  swiftly  by  a  few  yards  distant,  and, 
swinging  themselves  behind  the  neck  and  shoulders  of  their 
ponies,  fire  arrows  or  balls  into  the  wagon.  Two  of  the  sick 
men  had  already  been  wounded,  and  Captain  Mitchell,  finding  it 
impossible  to  defend  them  while  the  ambulance  was  in  motion, 
the  shaking  continually  destroying  his  aim,  ordered  Ander 
son  to  drive  to  the  top  of  a  hill  near  by,  and  they  would  fight 
it  out  with  the  red-skins.  Cramer  now  took  the  lines,  when, 
either  through  fear  or  because  he  did  not  believe  in  the  policy 
of  stopping,  he  kept  straight  on.  Captain  Mitchell  twice  or 
dered  Cramer  to  pull  up,  but,  as  he  paid  no  attention,  he  told 
Anderson  to  take  the  lines  from  him.  In  attempting  to  obey 
the  captain's  order,  Anderson  lost  his  footing  and  fell  out  of  the 
wagon.  The  captain  now  sprang  forward,  put  his  foot  on  the 
brake  to  lock  the  wheels,  when  a  sudden  lurch  of  the  wagon 
caused  him  to  lose  his  balance,  and  he  fell  headlong  on  the 
prairie.  Fortunately,  he  alighted  near  a  deep  gully,  where  the 
water  had  cut  out  the  bank,  and,  rolling  himself  into  it,  he 

looked  out  and  saw  Anderson  crawling  into  a  bunch  of  bushes 
21 


348  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

near  by.  When  these  accidents  happened,  the  ambulance  had 
just  crossed  the  crest  of  a  little  hill,  and,  as  the  Indians  had  not 
come  over  it  yet,  they  did  not  see  either  of  the  men  fall  from 
the  wagon.  The  captain  had  only  two  revolvers,  but  Ander 
son's  gun,  a  Spencer  rifle,  had  been  thrown  out  with  him,  and 
he  picked  it  up  and  took  it  into  the  bushes. 

In  a  few  moments  the  Indians  came  up,  riding  very  fast, 
and  the  main  body  crossed  the  ravine  near  where  Captain 
Mitchell  lay.  Some  of  them  jumped  their  horses  directly  over 
the  spot  where  he  was  concealed,  but  in  a  few  moments  they 
were  gone,  and  soon  had  disappeared  behind  the  neighboring 
divide,  leaving  the  captain  and  Anderson  to  their  own  reflec 
tions.  What  to  do  was  the  next  question.  That  the  Indians 
would  overtake  the  ambulance,  kill  all  its  occupants,  and  re 
turn,  the  captain  had  not  a  doubt.  He  determined  to  go  down 
the  ravine,  and,  calling  to  Anderson  to  follow,  started  off.  He 
had  already  crawled  some  distance  when,  hearing  the  clatter  of 
horses'  hoofs,  he  peeped  over  the  edge  of  his  cover,  and  saw 
about  seventy-five  Indians  riding  directly  up  to  where  he  was 
concealed.  Giving  himself  up  for  lost  he  laid  down,  drawing 
his  revolvers  and  preparing  them  for  action,  for  he  was  de 
termined  not  to  let  the  savages  have  his  scalp  without  making 
a  desperate  resistance.  The  warriors  came  up,  and,  dismount 
ing  within  thirty  yards  of  him,  began  a  lively  conversation. 
The  chief  walked  up  close  to  the  brink  of  the  ravine,  and  almost 
within  arm's  length  of  the  captain,  and  stood  gazing  on  the 
ground.  Mitchell  now  saw  the  chief  was  blind  of  an  eye  and 
wore  a  spotted  head-dress ;  and  he  knew  by  these  marks  he  was 
none  other  than  the  celebrated  Sioux  warrior,  Spotted  Tail. 
On  making  this  discovery  the  captain  leveled  both  his  revolvers 
at  the  chief's  breast,  and  was  fully  determined  to  fire.  He 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF  349 

believed  that  the  loss  of  five  captains  would  be  a  small  matter, 
if  by  their  death  they  could  secure  the  destruction  of  the  great 
leader  of  the  Sioux.  Just  as  he  was  about  to  pull  the  triggers 
i  loud  shout  from  the  warriors  caused  Spotted  Tail  to  start  for 
ward  and  run  rapidly  up  the  hill.  The  ponies  were  led  down 
the  ravine  and  the  warriors  scattered  in  all  directions,  seeking 
cover.  One  of  them  ensconced  himself  in  the  ravine  not  more 
than  thirty  feet  from  Mitchell.  Raising  his  head  so  he  could 
see  out,  the  captain  endeavored  to  ascertain  what  caused  all  the 
excitement  among  the  Indians.  At  first  he  had  thought  he  was 
discovered,  then  that  re-enforcements  from  the  fort  had  arrived, 
and  a  battle  was  about  to  begin ;  but  now  he  saw  Anderson  was 
discovered.  When  the  captain  had  started  down  the  ravine 
Anderson  had  followed  him,  and  just  emerged  from  the  bushes 
when  the  Indians  suddenly  came  up.  He  had  dropped  on  the 
ground,  and  endeavored  to  roll  himself  back  among  the  sage 
brush,  when  an  Indian  saw  him  and  gave  the  alarm.  The 
warriors,  not  knowing  how  many  white  men  might  be  in  the 
brush,  with  their  usual  caution,  had  immediately  sought  cover. 

A  hot  fire  was  opened  on  Anderson's  position,  and  at  first 
he  did  not  respond  at  all.  A  warrior,  more  bold  or  indiscreet 
than  the  rest,  ventured  to  go  closer  to  the  bushes,  when  a  small 
puff  of  white  smoke  was  seen  to  rise,  a  loud  report  rang  out 
on  the  air,  and  the  warrior  fell,  pierced  through  the  heart.  A 
yell  of  rage  resounded  over  the  hills,  and  three  more  Indians 
ran  toward  Anderson's  cover.  Three  reports  followed  each 
other  in  rapid  succession,  and  the  three  Indians  bit  the  dust. 
There  was  now  a  general  charge  on  Anderson,  but  he  fired  so 
fast  and  true  that  the  Indians  fell  back,  carrying  with  them  two 
more  of  their  number. 

The  captain  now  felt  it  his  duty  to  help  Anderson,  and  was 


350  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

aoout  to  open  fire  with  his  revolvers,  when  Anderson,  who,  n; 
doubt,  expected  as  much,  yelled  three  or  four  times,  saying,  in 
a  sort  of  cry,  "  My  arm  is  broken ;  keep  quiet ;  can't  work  the 
Spencer  any  more."  The  brave  fellow  no  doubt  intended  this 
as  a  warning  to  the  captain  not  to  discover  himself  by  firing, 
and  he  reluctantly  accepted  the  admonition  and  kept  quiet. 

A  rush  by  some  thirty  warriors  was  now  made  on  Ander 
son,  and,  notwithstanding  his  disabled  condition,  he  managed 
to  kill  three  more  Indians  before  he  was  taken.  He  was  over 
powered,  however,  dragged  out  of  the  bushes,  and  scalped  in 
full  sight  of  the  captain.  He  fought  to  the  last,  and  compelled 
them  to  kill  him  to  save  their  own  lives.  Nothing  could  exceed 
the  rage  of  the  Indians,  and  especially  old  Spotted  Tail,  as  he 
saw  the  body  of  warrior  after  warrior  carried  down  the  hill, 
until  nine  dead  Indians  were  laid  beside  Anderson.  In  his 
grief  for  the  loss  of  his  braves,  the  old  chief  kicked  the  corpse 
of  poor  Anderson,  and  the  other  Indians,  coming  up,  stuck 
knives  into  it.  Then  they  rolled  it  over,  cut  nine  gashes  in 
his  back,  one  for  each  warrior  he  had  killed,  and  stabbed  it 
nine  times.  Next,  they  drove  a  stake  in  the  eye,  drew  it  out, 
and  filling  the  hole  with  powder,  blew  his  skull  to  pieces. 

In  a  few  minutes  after  the  death  of  Anderson,  a  mounted 
party  was  seen  coming  over  the  hills,  and  about  thirty  warriors 
rode  up  to  Spotted  Tail,  and  reported  that  they  had  captured 
the  ambulance  and  killed  all  who  were  in  it.  They  exhibited 
to  Spotted  Tail  the  scalps  of  all  Captain  Mitchell's  late  com 
panions,  except  that  of  Cramer.  The  ambulance  horses  were 
brought  back,  each  carrying  a  greasy  mass  of  brutality,  known 
down  east  as  a  "  noble  red  man." 

In  a  few  moments  the  warriors  had  their  dead  comrades  se 
curely  strapped  to  ponies,  and,  mounting  their  own,  set  out 


BELDEN  :    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  351 

toward  the  Republican.  As  soon  as  they  were  out  of  sight, 
and  it  became  dark,  Captain  Mitchell  started  for  the  camp, 
where  he  arrived  about  10  o'clock,  and  told  the  story  of  the 
"  Cottonwood  Massacre,"  as  I  have  here  related  it. 

Early  the  next  morning  I  was  sent  out  with  a  strong  force 
to  pursue  and,  if  possible,  overtake  and  punish  the  Indians. 
For  two  days  I  followed  them  hard,  and,  on  the  evening  of 
the  second  day,  came  upon  a  small  party  as  they  were  crossing 
a  stream,  but,  in  attempting  to  charge  them,  they  scattered  over 
the  prairie  and  were  soon  lost  in  the  darkness.  The  trail  now 
divided  in  every  direction,  and  it  would  have  been  impossible 
to  follow  it  unless  each  soldier  had  pursued  some  half  a  dozen 
warriors,  when  it  is  not  likely  he  would  have  returned.  So  we 
turned  back,  and  marched  for  Cottonwood.  The  bodies  of  the 
dead  had  been  brought  in  and  buried,  and  every  thing  had 
been  found  just  as  Captain  Mitchell  had  stated. 

Private  Wise  was  severely  censured  for  not  immediately  go 
ing  to  the  camp  and  giving  the  alarm,  but  he  said  he  had  no 
idea  the  wagon  and  its  sick  men  had  ever  left  the  cafion,  for 
there  were  at  least  one  hundred  and  fifty  warriors  around  it 
when  he  came  away,  so  he  thought  he  might  as  well  rest  until 
morning  before  bearing  such  dismal  news  as  he  had  to  commu 
nicate  to  his  fellow-soldiers. 


352  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    LII. 

CAPTAIN  HANCOCK'S  ADVENTURE  WITH  THE  sioux — THE  STAGE  COACH  ATTACK — 

DEATH  OP  CINNAMON — A  WESTERN  STAGE  DRIVER — WHAT  HE  DID  WHEN 
THE  COACH  WAS  ATTACKED THE  DEAD  HORSE A  PREDICAMENT AMPUTA 
TION  OP  A  LEG — HOW  TO  FIGHT  SIOUX  INDIANS OFF  FOR  THE  RANCHE — A 

FUNERAL    PROCESSION — ARRIVAL  AT   OILMAN'S — ALL  ABOARD— OFF  AGAIN — 

BURIAL  OF  CINNAMON — RECOVERY  OF  THE  WOUNDED THE  SIOUX  TRAIL — THB 

,       SIGNS — WHERE  THEY  WENT. 

DURING  the  time  when  we  were  guarding  Ben  Holliday's 
stage  coaches,  and  when  attacks  on  them  were  of  fre 
quent  occurrence,  I  had  an  adventure  which  I  think  is  worth 
relating. 

I'  was  at  one  of  the  lower  ranches,  and  the  Indians 
were  very  troublesome.  Our  guards  were  nearly  all  sick  or 
wounded,  and  the  coaches  had  to  go  out  insufficiently  pro 
tected. 

One  evening  the  coach  was  late,  and,  as  to  be  behind  time 
was  a  sure  sign  that  something  was  wrong,  we  all  felt  very 
uneasy.  The  drivers  made  it  a  rule  to  get  from  one  station  to 
another  on  time,  and  if  they  did  not  arrive  parties  were  imme 
diately  started  out  to  the  next  ranche,  ten  miles  below,  to  see 
what  the  matter  was,  the  stations  being  all  eight,  ten,  and 
twelve  miles  apart. 

On  the  particular  evening  in  question,  I  had  got  tired  wait- 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  353 

ing,  and  gone  over  to  the  stable-keeper  to  see  if  we  had  not 
better  take  the  change  horses,  go  down  the  road,  and  try  if  we 
could  not  find  the  coach.  It  was  due  at  the  station  at  8 : 30 
P.  M ,  and  it  was  now  ten,  so  I  was  confident  it  had  been  at 
tacked  or  had  broken  down.  While  we  were  talking,  the  sen 
tinel  on  the  outpost,  whose  business  it  was  to  look  out  for  the 
stage  and  give  notice  of  its  approach,  signaled  the  coach  was 
coming.  We  all  ran  down  the  road  to  meet  it,  and  soon  saw 
it  coming  slowly  along  with  three  horses  instead  of  four,  and 
the  driver  driving  very  slowly,  as  if  he  were  going  to  a  funeral 
or  haujing  wounded. 

When  we  came  up  to  the  coach  we  learned  that  he  was  in 
deed  both  conveying  a  corpse  and  wounded.  On  the  arrival 
of  the  party  at  the  ranche,  Captain  Hancock,  who  was  a  pas 
senger,  related  to  me  all  that  had  happened,  and  I  repeat  the 
story  as  it  fell  from  his  lips. 

"  We  were, "  said  the  captain,  "  driving  along  smartly  in 
the  bottom,  about  four  miles  below,  when,  just  as  we  crossed  a 
little  ravine,  some  twenty  Indians  jumped  up  out  of  the  long 
grass  and  fired  on  us.  The  first  volley  killed  Mr.  Cinnamon, 
a  telegraph  operator,  who  was  a  passenger,  and  was  on  his  way 
from  Plum  Creek  to  some  point  up  the  river.  He  was  riding 
on  the  box  with  the  driver  at  the  time  when  he  received  the 
fatal  shot,  and  the  driver  caught  his  body  just  as  it  was  falling 
forward  off  the  coach  on  the  rear  horses.  He  put  Cinna 
mon's  corpse  in  the  front  boot  among  the  mail  bags,  where  it 
now  is. 

"  The  first  fire  had  also  killed  our  nigh  wheeler,  and,  as  the 
coach  was  going  pretty  fast  at  the  time,  the  horse  was  dragged 
a  considerable  distance,  and  his  hind  leg  becoming  fast  be 
tween  the  spokes  of  the  fore-wheel,  his  body  was  drawn  up 

81 


354  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE   CHIEF. 

against  the  bed  of  the  coach,  and   all   further  progress  com 
pletely  blocked. 

"The  driver  took  it  very  coolly,  first  swearing  fearfully  al 
the  Indians,  toward  whom  he  cracked  his  whip  repeatedly,  as 
if  flaying  their  naked  backs,  and  then,  having  vented  his 
spleen,  he  quietly  descended  from  his  box  and  stripped  the 
harness  off  the  dead  horse. 

"  Meanwhile  the  Indians  had  been  circling  around  us,  firing 
into  the  coach  every  few  minutes,  and  I  had  got  under  the 
wagon  with  my  clerks,  the  better  to  be  protected  and  to  fire  at 
the  Indians,  who  could  be  seen  best  from  the  ground,  as  they 
moved  against  the  horizon. 

"  The  driver  tried  in  vain  to  extricate  the  leg  of  the  dead 
horse  from  the  wheel,  but  it  was  firmly  wedged  in,  and  after 
uniting  my  strength  to  his  I  found  it  necessary  to  take 
my  knife  and  amputate  the  leg  at  the  knee-joint.  The 
body  was  at  length  removed,  and,  mounting  the  box,  the 
driver  bid  us  get  in,  and  we  were  off  once  more.  One  of 
the  clerks  had  been  severely  wounded,  and,  as  his  wound  was 
quite  painful,  we  had  to  drive  very  slowly;  so  we  were  late 
getting  in. " 

While  the  captain  was  talking  the  driver  came  to  the  door 
to  say  the  coach  was  waiting,  for  on  the  plains  stages  stop  not  for 
accidents  or  dead  men.  I  bade  my  friend  good-night,  hoping 
he  would  not  again  be  interrupted  on  his  journey  by  the  red 
skins,  and,  the  driver  cracking  his  whip,  the  four  fresh  bays 
bounded  forward  at  a  gallop,  and  soon  carried  the  coach  out 
of  sight  of  the  valley. 

Next  day  we  buried  poor  Cinnamon,  and  sent  the  wounded 
man  to  McPherson,  where  he  could  have  medical  attendance, 
and  we  were  pleased  to  learn  he  speedily  recovered. 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  355 

I  rode  down  to  where  the  coach  had  been  attacked,  and  saw 
the  dead  horse  and  the  ravine  from  which  the  Indians  had 
sprung.  The  fight  had  evidently  been  a  sharp  one,  and  I  could 
see  by  the  trail  that  the  savages  had  followed  the  coach  nearly 
to  the  ranche,  and  then  struck  across  toward  the  Republican, 
never  stopping,  in  all  probability,  until  they  reached  it,  ninety 
miles  distant. 


356  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    LIU. 

GENERAL  SULLY*  S  EXPEDITION  AGAINST  THE  SIOUX  —  THE  MARCH  UP  THB 
MISSOURI — ARRIVAL  AT  FORT  SULLY — OLD  KEG,  THE  GUIDE — INHUMANITY 
OP  HIS  TRIBE — SCOUTING  FOR  INDIANS — HOT  WEATHER — THE  INDIANS 

POUND — RACE     FOR    THE     BATTLE-FIELD A   DESPERATE    BATTLE — HORRIBLE 

TREATMENT  OP  THE  WOUNDED— LIEUT.  LEYITT — HIS  DESPERATE  ENCOUNTER 
WITH  SQUAWS — A  NIGHT  OF  HORRORS — DEATH  OP  LEYITT — ESCAPE  OP  THE 
SAVAGES — THE  PURSUIT — THEIR  DEAD  AND  WOUNDED LOSS  OP  THE  WHITES. 

THE  bloody  engagements  between  the  expeditionary  forces, 
under  General  Sully,  and  the  Sioux  tribes  of  the  Upper 
Missouri,  have,  perhaps,  never  been  equaled  in  the  history  of 
Indian  warfare  on  this  continent.  The  incidents  of  that  expe 
dition,  I  believe,  have  never  been  published,  and,  as  I  was 
present  and  engaged  in  it,  I  will  here  relate  some  of  them — 
General  Sully's  official  report,  as  is  always  the  case  in  such 
documents,  being  necessarily  brief,  and  omitting  those  minor 
details  which  are  of  most  interest  to  the  general  reader. 

The  troops  consisted  of  the  Second  Nebraska  Cavalry,  Col. 
Furnas  commanding;  a  battalion  of  the  Sixth  Iowa  Cavalry, 
Major  House  commanding;  two  companies  of  the  Seventh 
Iowa  Cavalry,  and  two  companies  of  infantry  with  the  train, 
for  guarding  the  supplies. 

The  forces  moved  up  the  Missouri,  and  established  at  Fort 
Sully  a  supply  depot.  This  place  is  nearly  opposite  old  Fort 
Pierre. 


BELDEN  :   THE  WHITE   CHIEF.  357 

+. 

Early  in  August,  1863,  we  marched  for  the  Indian  country, 
with  instructions  to  punish  the  savages,  who  had  been  com 
mitting  horrible  outrages  on  the  whites  in  Minnesota.  The 
weather  was  intensely  hot,  and  we  toiled  slowly  along,  march 
ing  early  in  the  day  and  lying  by  during  the  afternoons.  We 
had  reached  Cannon  Ball  River,  and  were  moving  on  to 
Painted  Wood  River,  when  our  scouts  found  an  old  Indian, 
by  the  name  of  "  Keg,"  and  brought  him  in.  This  old  fellow 
had  been  left  by  his  inhuman  companions  to  die  by  the  side  of 
a  stream.  He  related  that  he  had  frozen  his  feet  during  the 
past  severe  winter,  and  the  hot  weather  having  inflamed  his 
sores  so  he  could  not  travel,  his  tribe  had  stolen  all  his  ponies 
and  blankets,  and  cast  him  out  to  die  of  starvation.  Gen.  Sully 
had  his  wounds  dressed,  gave  him  clothing  and  food;  and  this 
kind  treatment  so  deeply  touched  him,  that  he  felt  bound  to 
answer  all  the  general's  inquiries  concerning  his  ungrateful 
tribe. 

He  said  they  had  gone  to  the  lakes,  some  hundred  miles  dis 
tant,  to  hunt  buffalo,  and  would  be  there  a  long  time,  as  they 
wished  to  take  enough  meat  to  last  them  during  the  fall  and 
winter.  On  this  intelligence,  the  general  moved  forward,  tak 
ing  with  him  old  "  Keg "  as  a  guide. 

Every  day  the  sun  poured  down  his  intense  rays  from  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning  until  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  so 
great  was  the  heat  that  we  could  only  march  very  early  in  the 
morning  and  late  in  the  evening;  nevertheless,  we  made  good 
days'  journeys.  The  nights  were  so  cold  we  had  to  wear  thick 
woolen  clothing  and  sleep  under  blankets.  This  condition  of 
the  weather  kept  us  constantly  peeling  off  to  keep  from  roast 
ing,  or  shivering  in  great  overcoats. 

Scouts  were  out  daily  looking  for  Indian  camps,  and  fresh 


358  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

•i 

trails  and  skeletons  of  recently-killed  buffalo  warned  us  that 
the  Indians  were  not  far  off.  One  evening  we  came  to  a  lot  of 
fr^sh  carcasses  that  had  evidently  been  slaughtered  but  a  few 
hours  before,  and  General  Sully,  halting,  sent  out  Major  House 
to  scout. 

We  were  now  moving  among  a  tier  of  beautiful  little  lakes, 
some  ten  miles  apart;  and  these  were  the  ones  alluded  to  by  old 
"  Keg  "  as  the  hunting-grounds  of  his  tribe.  The  general  had 
instructed  the  scouts  to  move  with  great  caution,  and  not  alarm 
or  engage  the  Indians,  but  simply  report  what  they  saw. 

On  the  day  in  question,  after  Major  House  had  gone  out,  I 
lay  down  in  my  tent  to  sleep,  and,  as  was  the  custom,  the  whole 
camp,  except  the  guards,  was  asleep,  for  we  had  been  marching 
nearly  all  night.  About  three  o'clock  I  was  awakened  by  a 
great  uproar,  and,  rushing  out  of  my  tent,  saw  troops  stream 
ing  over  the  prairie  to  the  westward.  It  took  but  a  moment 
to  learn  the  cause  of  all  this  excitement,  and  it  was  to  the  effect 
that  Major  House  had  found  the  Indians  posted  in  force  on  a 
ridge  not  far  off,  and  a  great  battle  was  about  to  begin.  Not 
waiting  to  dress,  I  buckled  on  my  revolvers,  and,  mounting 
my  pony,  placed  myself  at  the  head  of  a  squad  of  my  men, 
and  galloped  hard  for  the  battle-field,  eleven  miles  distant.  It 
was  a  long  ride  on  that  hot  day,  but  we  reached  it  at  last  just 
as  the  sun  was  going  down  over  the  western  hills.  We  found 
the  Indians  drawn  up  on  a  jutting  ridge,  with  their  women, 
children,  and  ponies  corralled  behind  them  in  a  hollow.  Gen 
eral  Sully  was  already  on  the  ground,  and  directing  the  move 
ments  of  the  troops  as  they  came  up.  The  savages  were  soon 
completely  surrounded,  and  we  impatiently  waited  for  the  ac 
tion  to  begin.  The  Indians  kept  falling  back  on  a  spur  that 
put  into  a  deep  ravine,  and  were,  in  a  short  time,  closely 


BELDEN  I    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  359 

crowded  together  on  the  extreme  point.  They  had  evidently 
only  halted  to  fight  Major  House's  force,  and  were  appalled  on 
seeing  our  great  numbers. 

The  troops  were  dismounted,  and,  No.  4  holding  the  horses, 
Nos.  1,  2,  3,  of  each  set  of  fours  in  the  cavalry  advanced  to 
fight  on  foot.  We  had  approached  quite  near  the  savages  and 
halted,  when  an  orderly  was  seen  to  gallop  up  to  Major  House 
and  deliver  an  order  from  General  Sully.*  We  saw  House's 
men  slinging  their  carbines,  and  in  a  moment  we  knew  it  was 
an  order  not  to  attack.  A  murmur  of  disappointment  ran 
along  the  lines;  and,  at  that  moment,  Captain  Bayne,  of  the 
Second  Nebraska  Cavalry,  stepped  out  in  front  of  the  men, 
and  said : 

"  Boys,  we  have  come  a  long  way  to  fight  the  Indians,  and 
now,  that  we  have  got  them,  I  am  in  favor  of  whaling  them. 
Shall  we  advance  ?  "  "  Yes !  yes  ! "  ran  along  the  lines,  and 
Bayne  cried  out :  "  Each  man  pick  his  Indian."  There  was 
no  order  to  fire,  but  every  soldier  leveled  his  carbine.  An 
Indian  was  now  seen  advancing,  wrapped  in  a  garrison  flag, 
and  crying,  "  How !  how ! "  moving  his  hand  up  and  down,  as 
if  shaking  hands.  As  yet  not  a  gun  had  been  fired,  and  the 
Indians  stood  wrapped  in  their  blankets,  their  arms  concealed, 
and  only  the  top  of  a  bow  in  sight  here  and  there.  They  were 
very  cool,  and  stood  perfectly  still.  The  Indian  in  the  flag 
continued  to  advance,  and  when  he  was  close  to  our  line,  a 
little  Dutchman  on  the  left  fired  and  killed  him,  he  gathering 
the  flag  about  him  as  he  fell,  and  making  of  it  a  winding 
sheet.  There  were  two  or  three  more  shots  along  the  line, 

*  The  order  referred  to  was  from  General  Sully,  to  hold  the  Indians  in 
check  and  not  attack  until  he  had  concluded  the  council  he  was  then  hold 
ing  with  some  of  their  chiefs. 


360  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

then  a  scattering  volley;  and  the  Indians  on  the  hill  throw 
ing  off  their  blankets,  nearly  every  one  was  seen  to  have  a 
gun.  The  action  soon  became  general  along  our  line,  and 
Major  House's  battalion  wished  to  join  in  the  battle,  but  their 
officers,  stepping  in  front  of  them,  declared  they  would  cut 
down  the  first  man  who  fired  a  shot.  About  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  Indians  had  gone  up  on  the  hill  where  General 
Sully  was,  and  were  holding  a  council  with  him  when  the 
battle  began.  They  immediately  began  to  withdraw,  but  Gen 
eral  Sully  ordering  his  body-guard,  two  companies  of  cavalry, 
to  surround  them,  they  were  all  taken  prisoners. 

The  Indians  were  now  fighting  desperately,  most  of  them 
having  mounted  their  ponies,  charging  and  yelling  furiously. 
It  was  growing  dark,  and,  as  the  darkness  increased,  the  sav 
ages  became  more  bold,  dashing  among  our  men  and  toma 
hawking  them  as  they  forced  their  ponies  through  the  lines. 
The  soldiers,  with  clubbed  guns,  resisted  them,  and  many  a 
pony,  Indian,  and  white  man  went  down  together  in  death  in 
that  bitter  hand-to-hand  struggle.  House's  men  had  become 
engaged,  and  the  battle  surged  and  roared  over  the  hills,  the 
flashes  of  the  guns  lighting  up  the  darkness  of  the  fearful 
scenery.  Despite  our  exertions,  many  of  the  Indians  escaped, 
and  the  remainder  held  firmly  to  the  hill.  We  lost  a  little 
ground  after  dark,  and  the  battle  lulled.  All  night  we  lay  on 
the  ground  near  where  we  had  fought,  and  within  hearing  of 
the  cries  of  our  wounded,  many  of  whom  had  been  left  behind 
in  the  hands  of  the  Indians.  Little  did  we  know  of  the  fear 
ful  tragedy  that  was  enacting  on  the  hill  above  us  under  cover 
of  night;  for  if  we  had,  we  would  have  advanced  and  ended  it, 
though  it  had  cost  the  lives  of  one-half  the  men  in  the  command. 

As  soon  as  it  was  dark  the  squaws  had  descended  from  the 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  361 

hill,  and  attacking  our  helpless  wounded  with  long-handled 
tomahawks,  beat  their  brains  out,  after  which  they  took  a 
butcher-knife  and  cut  out  their  tongues. 

Lieut.  Levitt  was  wounded  early  in  the  action,  and  his 
horse  at  the  same  time  being  shot,  and  falling  on  his  leg,  held 
him  fast,  so  that  when  the  men  fell  back  he  was,  unfortunately, 
left  behind.  He  said  next  day,  he  saw  the  squaws  come  down 
the  hill  and  attack  our  wounded  and  dying  men,  nearly  all  of 
whom  bravely  defended  their  lives,  wounding  many  of  the 
squaws.  He  lay  close  to  his  dead  horse,  partly  hidden  by  his 
saddle,  and  he  hoped  they  would  not  discover  him.  Presently, 
however,  he  saw  a  squaw  approaching,  evidently  with  the  de 
sign  of  rifling  the  saddle-bags.  While  she  was  engaged  in  this 
occupation  she  saw  the  lieutenant,  and,  springing  quickly  back, 
struck  at  him  with  her  tomahawk.  He  made  a  thrust  at  her 
with  his  saber,  but  could  not  reach  her.  After  trying  for  some 
time  to  kill  him  with  her  long-handled  weapon,  she  screeched, 
and  brought  half  a  dozen  other  squaws  to  her  assistance. 
They  all  now  attacked  him,  making  feints  and  motions,  and 
then  suddenly  striking  him.  Using  his  saber  as  well  as  he 
could  in  his  cramped  and  disabled  condition,  he,  for  a  long 
time,  kept  them  at  bay.  He  held  his  left  hand  over  his  head, 
and  with  his  right  thrust  out  with  the  sword.  The  fingers  of 
his  left  hand  were  nearly  all  broken,  and  the  flesh  on  his  arm 
so  gashed  and  bruised,  that  it  was  laid  bare  to  the  bone  all  the 
way  from  the  wrist  to  the  shoulder,  and  the  tendons  severed  at 
the  elbow.  At  length,  making  a  desperate  thrust,  he  severely 
wounded  a  squaw,  and  she  set  up  a  fearful  howling;  the  rest 
carried  her  off,  and  did  not  again  return  to  molest  him.  So 
weak  was  he,  from  fatigue  and  loss  of  blood,  that  he  fainted  as 
soon  as  the  squaws  left  him.  Next  day  we  found  the  poor 


362  BELDEN  :    THE    WHITE   CHIEF. 

fellow  in  a  terrible  condition,  and  brought  him  to  camp,  where 
every  thing  was  done  for  him  that  kindness  could  suggest,  but 
he  died  after  a  day  of  great  suffering. 

To  return  once  more  to  the  battle-field.  After  the  fighting 
for  the  day  had  ceased  the  Indians  crept  away,  and  before 
morning  nearly  all  had  escaped.  We  followed  them  up,  and 
found  nearly  every  buffalo  wallow,  filled  with  their  dead  and 
wounded.  They  would  carry  them  along  until  they  came  to  a 
wallow,  and  then,  depositing  them,  leave  them  to  their  fate. 
We  counted  in  all  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  dead  Indians, 
and  we  had  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  prisoners.  There  were 
also  seven  hundred  head  of  Indian  stock  killed,  wounded,  01 
captured.  Our  own  loss  amounted,  in  killed  and  wounded,  to 
fifty-eight  men,  eighteen  belonging  to  the  Second  Nebraska 
Cavalry,  and  forty  to  the  Sixth  Iowa  Cavalry. 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  365 


CHAPTER    LIV. 

A3*    INDIAN    ATTACK — ATTEMPT     TO    RESCUE     THE    PRISONERS — LIEUT.    BATNK's 

SCOUT THE      WARNING — MISTAKEN     PRIDE — SURROUNDED     BY     SAVAGES — A 

DESPERATE  SITUATION — BAYNE*S  IRRESOLUTION — A  BRAVE  SERGEANT — 
DREADFUL  CHARGE — FIGHTING  FOR  LIFE — THE  COMMAND  SAVED — THE  SER- 

GKANT'S  HORSE  WOUNDED — HE  is  LEFT  BEHIND — INGRATITUDE  OF  HIS  COM 
RADES — NOBLE  SACRIFICE — HEROISM  OF  THE  SERGEANT — HE  KILLS  EIGHT 
INDIANS — DEATH  OF  THE  SERGEANT — THE  RETURN  TO  CAMP — BAYNE's  RB- 
PORT — HONORS  TO  THE  DEAD  SERGEANT'S  BODY. 

SEVERAL  of  us  were  standing  by  the  bed-side  of  poor 
Lieut.  Levitt,  who  had  just  finished  his  story  of  suffering 
and  honor  on  the  battle-field,  and  now  lay  dying.  It  was  sad  in 
the  extreme,  for  we  all  loved  him  dearly,  and  not  a  man  of  us, 
as  we  watched  his  heavy  and  painful  breathing,  could  refrain 
from  hating  the  authors  of  so  much  misery.  As  for  myself,  I 
made  a  resolve  I  would  not  rest  until  I  had  at  least  two  scalps 
at  my  girdle  for  Levitt's  death,  and  I  fear  there  were  many 
similar  resolves  made  by  the  hardy  and  hardened  men  who 
surrounded  that  death-bed. 

Scarcely  had  we  reached  our  tents,  when  "bang!"  "bang!" 
went  the  guns  of  the  pickets  on  the  hill,  and  the  cry  of  "  In 
dians!  Indians!"  resounded  through  the  camp.  There  was 
rushing  to  and  fro,  and  mounting  in  hot  haste;  but,  in  less 
time  than  it  takes  to  record  it,  a  hundred  horsemen  were  flying 

to  the  support  of  the  pickets.     I  did  not  go  out,  thinking  it  a 
22 


366  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

feint ;  it  proved,  however,  to  be  a  real  attack  of  the  red  rascals*, 
who  had  returned,  hoping  to  surprise  us,  and,  by  a  dash,  suc 
ceed  in  liberating  the  125  of  their  people  we  held  prisoners. 
The  assault  was  a  feeble  one,  and  soon  repelled,  not  an  Indian 
escaping  from  our  camp  to  reward  the  savages  for  their  enter 
prise. 

As  soon  as  the  Indian  attack  was  over,  General  Sully  ordered 
the  Indian  camp  and  supplies  to  be  destroyed.  It  was  a  very 
large  camp,  well  stocked  with  provisions  and  robes,  and  the 
burning  of  it  was  no  small  job.  Teepees  were  pulled  down 
and  heaped  up  on  the  lodge-poles,  and  on  top  of  these  were 
thrown  bales  of  robes,  parfleshes  of  meat,  and  pieces  of  wood. 
The  whole  was  then  fired,  and  stirred  up  until  it  burned  down. 
Thousands  of  articles  were  consumed,  and  the  soldiers,  in  the 
light  of  this  burning  town,  looked  like  real  fire  fiends  as  they 
ran  about  in  their  red  shirts  thrusting  their  torches  in  every 
combustible  pile. 

While  the  town  was  ?  burning  a  most  lamentable  sight  was 
witnessed.  The  Indian  dogs  that  had  been  left  in  the  village 
with  the  property,  as  was  customary,  trotted  about,  howling 
most  dismally.  They  had  little  shafts  strapped  to  their  sides, 
and  on  these  were  tied  cooking  utensils,  and,  not  unfrequently, 
Indian  babies.  During  the  battle  many  of  the  dogs  had  be 
come  frightened^and  hid  away  in  the  rocks  and  ravines,  and 
the  Indian  mothers,  making  their  escape  in  the  night,  had  to 
go  away  without  their  babies.  The  dogs,  true  to  their  charges, 
would  not  allow  the  soldiers  to  approach  their  loads,  but  fled 
over  the  hills  when  any  one  went  toward  them.  In  a  little 
while  they  would  return,  and,  sitting  on  a  hill-top,  gaze  at  the 
burning  town  and  cry  piteously.  The  little  babies,  that  the 
dogs  were  dragging  about  on  their  travaises,  never  cried,  but 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  367 

lay  perfectly  still,  though  the  dogs  galloped  over  ditches  and 
gullies,  shaking  and  jolting  them  at  a  terrible  rate.  The  sol 
diers,  not  being  able  to  catch  the  dogs,  shot  them,  and  it  some 
times  happened  the  dog  would  move,  or  the  aim  not  be  good, 
when  the  baby,  instead  of  the  dog,  would  receive  the  ball.  It 
was,  perhaps,  well  it  was  so  killed,  for  if  left  out  on  the  prairie 
it  would  have  starved  to  death ;  if  brought  in,  we  had  no  way 
to  keep  it  or  take  care  of  it,  but  if  dead  it  was  at  rest.  Poor 
little  creatures,  however  much  we  pitied  them  we  could  not 
help  them. 

When  the  camp  was  burned,  General  Sully  determined  to 
follow  up  the  Indians  and  administer  still  further  punishment, 
as  they  exhibited  no  signs  of  coming  to  terms.  It  was  deeply 
to  be  regretted  they  had  not  been  attacked  in  the  first  fight,  but 
the  only  way  now  was  to  fight  it  out  and  conquer  if  possible. 
The  general  detached  Lieut.  Bayne,  with  sixty  men,  to  scout 
and  find  the  Indians.  Taking  the  old  trail,  Bayne  pushed  on, 
and  the  first  day  out  came  upon  two  Indians  who  were  making 
their  way  on  foot  to  the  bluffs.  One  of  them  seemed  to  be 
wounded,  and  was  leaning  on  the  shoulder  of  his  companion, 
who  pretended  to  be  helping  him  along.  When  first  noticed 
they  were  moving  slowly,  but,  on  Lieut.  Bayne  calling  out  to 
his  men,  "  There  are  two  of  the  rascals,  let  us  go  for  them, 
gallop,  march/'  the  Indians  began  to  run.  The  guide,  who 
was  an  old  and  experienced  frontiersman,  no  sooner  saw  the 
Indians  set  off  than  he  rode  up  to  Bayne,  and  called  out: 

"  Look  out,  lieutenant,  they  are  a  decoy ;  see  how  that  lame 
Indian  mends  his  pace." 

"  Silence,  sir,"  retorted  Bayne,  angrily,  to  this  well-meant 
admonition  ;  "  I,  not  you,  command  here." 

The  guide,  without  uttering  a  word,  reined  up  his  horse  and 


368  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

allowed  the  column  to  pass  him,  and  then  turning  toward  the 
camp,  plunged  the  rowels  into  his  steed's  flanks,  and  in  a  mo 
ment  had  disappeared  behind  a  protecting  bluff. 

Bayne  kept  straight  on  following  the  two  Indians  up  a 
narrow  caflon,  and  gaining  on  them  every  moment.  He  was 
now  within  pistol  shot  of  them,  and  they  were  running  for 
dear  life,  when  suddenly  they  disappeared,  and  instantly  the 
hills  swarmed  with  Indians. 

"  They  are  in  our  rear/7  shouted  several  soldiers,  and,  halt 
ing  the  command,  Lieut.  Bayne  looked  down  the  calion  and 
saw  three  or  four  hundred  savages  coming  out  of  the  bluff, 
and  completely  closing  the  passage  along  which  he  had  just 
marched. 

"Look!  look!"  shouted  the  sergeant,  and  directing  his 
eyes  up  the  valley,  the  lieutenant  discovered  two  solid  lines 
of  savages  advancing  upon  him,  stretched  out  from  bluff 
to  bluff. 

"  We  are  lost ! "  cried  Bayne,  and,  for  the  moment,  seemed 
completely  prostrated  by  the  sad  predicament  into  which  he 
had  got  himself  and  his  devoted  troopers.  "  Fours,  right 
about,  wheel,"  shouted  the  sergeant,  and  the  men  mechanically 
obeyed  the  order.  "  Now,"  cried  the  brave  sergeant,  "  ones  and 
fours,  cut  right  and  left,  and  twos  and  threes,  go  ahead ;  steady 
column!  forward!  gallop,  march!" 

Away  went  the  troopers,  and  dashing  at  the  solid  lines  of 
Indians,  rode  or  cut  them  down.  Fast  and  furious  fell  the 
saber  strokes,  and  the  savages,  appalled  at  the  sudden  and  ter 
rific  onset,  parted  in  twain,  and  allowed  the  column  to  pass 
through  to  the  open  plain.  Many  horses  were  wounded,  but 
strange  to  relate,  not  a  man  was  killed.  Lieutenant  Bayne 
fought  desperately  at  one  time  with  his  single  saber,  holding 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  369 

the  Indians  in  check,  until  some  troopers,  who  had  got  behind, 
came  up  and  passed  through  the  gap. 

Once  out  on  the  plain  the  column  headed  for  camp  and  rode 
swiftly  forward.  Suddenly  the  brave  sergeant's  horse  was  seen 
to  stagger  and  reel  under  his  weight,  and  then  fall  to  his  knees. 
He  reined  him  up  and  allowed  the  column  to  pass,  then  calling 
to  some  troopers,  who  were  behind,  to  stop  and  take  him  up 
behind  on  one  of  their  horses,  he  dismounted,  but  the  demoral 
ized  soldiers  paid  no  attention  to  his  request,  and  the  column 
swept  on.  Once  more  mounting  his  steed,  the  sergeant  pushed 
him  to  his  utmost  speed,  hoping  to  overtake  the  column,  but 
seeing  he  was  each  moment  losing  distance,  and  the  noble 
horse  becoming  more  and  more  feeble,  the  sergeant  turned  him 
off  the  trail  and  rode  him  across  the  prairie.  This  he  did  for 
the  purpose  of  drawing  as  many  of  the  Indians  as  possible  after 
him  and  thus,  by  sacrificing  his  life,  increase  the  chances  of 
escape  for  his  comrades.  We  saw  the  gallant  fellow  dashing 
over  the  prairie,  followed  by  a  horde  of  hooting  savages.  Sud 
denly  the  horse  stopped,  sank  to  the  ground,  and  rolled  over 
dead.  The  sergeant  lay  down  behind  his  horse,  and  taking 
deliberate  aim  at  the  foremost  Indian  in  the  chase,  killed  him  at 
the  first  fire  from  his  Enfield  rifle.  Quickly  loading,  he  fired 
again,  and  another  Indian  fell.  He  now  drew  his  revolvers,  and 
sheltering  his  body  from  the  arrows  and  bullets  of  his  savage 
assailants,  fired  away  at  them.  It  was  not  until  he  had  killed 
eight  Indians,  and,  fell  weak  and  bleeding  from  wounds,  that 
they  could  get  him  from  behind  his  horse;  then  they  dragged 
him  out  and  scalped  him,  but  seeming  to  respect  his  bravery, 
refrained  from  mutilating  his  body. 

The  guide,  after  leaving  Lieutenant  Bayne,  had  waited  only 
to  see  the  attack  begin,  and  then  rode  straight  to  camp,  where 


370  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

he  informed  General  Sully  of  all  that  had  happened.  Generaj 
S.  lost  no  time  in  sending  re-enforcements  to  Lieutenant  Bayne 
who  was  met  a  short  distance  from  camp,  quietly  returning,  the 
Indians  having  given  up  the  pursuit  after  killing  the  brave 
sergeant.*  The  whole  party  returned  to  camp,  and  Lieutenant 
Bayne  was  immediately  ordered  to  make  out  a  full  report  of 
the  affair.  He  did  the  sergeant  justice,  and  when  General 
Sully  read  the  report,  he  sent  out  a  strong  force,  brought  in 
the  body  of  the  sergeant,  and  buried  it  with  all  the  honors  of 
war. 

*  The  sergeant  here  referred  to,  was  Sergeant  Bain,  of  the  Second  Ne 
braska  Cavalry.  A  short  time  before  Lieutenant  Bayne's  scout  took  place, 
Sergeant  Bain  had  been  reduced  to  the  ranks  for  having  scalped  twenty- 
seven  Indians.  The  circumstances  were  these :  Sergeant  Bain,  while  out 
following  the  Indians  after  the  battle  fought  by  General  Sully,  near  Goose 
Lake,  on  the  third  of  September,  1863,  came  upon  a  buffalo-wallow,  filled 
with  sick  and  wounded  Indians,  some  of  whom  were  in  a  dying  condition, 
and  others  barely  able  to  sit  up.  With  a  ferocity  unparalleled,  he  sprang 
into  the  wallow,  tomahawked  twenty-seven  of  the  Indians  with  their  own 
tomahawks,  and  scalped  them  with  their  own  scalping-knives.  He  did  this, 
he  said,  in  revenge  for  the  squaws  cutting  the  tongues  out  of  the  mouths 
of  our  wounded  the  night  before,  and  in  order,  as  he  observed,  that  the 
Indians  might  know  how  it  went  to  have  their  own  barbarity  applied  to 
themselves.  He  was,  undoubtedly,  influenced  by  honest,  but,  nevertheless, 
mistaken  motives ;  but,  for  his  cruelty,  he  was  broken  by  General  Sully,  and 
reduced  to  the  ranks  as  a  private. 

After  Bayne's  scout,  in  consideration  of  the  signal  services  he  had  ren 
dered  the  command  on  that  occasion,  the  order  was  revoked  reducing  him 
as  sergeant ;  he  was  reappointed  a  sergeant,  and  then  his  poor  body  was 
laid  to  rest,  and  there  was  not  an  officer  or  soldier  in  the  command,  but 
felt  a  regret  for  his  untimely  and  sad  death. — EDITOR. 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  371 


CHAPTER   LY. 

SCOUTING  ON  THE  REPUBLICAN — HIDING  ALONG  THE  CREEKS — SALLY  OUT  TO 
KILL  A  BUFFALO — THE  WOUNDED  CALF — HUNTING  BUFFALO  WITH  TWO  IN 
DIANS — RACE  AFTER  THE  HERD — ANOTHER  FRIGHTENED  HERD THE  CAUSE 

OF  ITS    ALARM — PERILOUS    SITUATION — HIDING   IN   THE  BLUFFS — RETURNING 

TO  CAMP — UNEXPECTED  GAME — SOME  STEAKS  AFTER  ALL — A  HASTY  SUPPER 

THE  FLIGHT — SAFE  IN  CAMP. 

IT  was  while  I  was  with  Colonel  Brown  that  I  had  an  ad 
venture  which  came  near  being  my   last,   and,  as  I  have 
omitted  to  relate  it  in  its  proper  place,  I  will  here  insert  it. 

We  were  camped  on  a  tributary  of  the  Republican,  and  I 
had  been  sent  out  with  a  small  party  to  scout.  Our  numbers 
were  too  few  to  travel  by  daylight,  and,  besides,  it  was  not  our 
business  to  be  seen,  but  to  see.  We  had  been  traveling  through 
a  buffalo  range,  and  one  evening,  unable  to  resist  the  tempta 
tion  to  hunt,  I  sallied  out  down  the  little  creek  on  which  we 
had  been  hiding,  hoping  to  stalk  a  buffalo  calf.  I  had  not 
gone  far  when  I  saw  a  fine  fellow  grazing  near  the  water's 
edge,  and,  firing,  broke  his  shoulder.  He  made  off  for  the 
herd,  which  was  feeding  near  by,  and  thinking  I  could  soon 
overtake  and  finish  him,  I  mounted  my  pony  and  made  after 
him.  Notwithstanding  his  three  legs,  he  ran  along  so  smartly 
that,  before  I  could  overhaul  him,  he  had  joined  his  dam  and 
mingled  in  the  herd.  The  buffaloes  started  across  the  prairie, 


372  BEL.DEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

and,  chagrined  and  excited,  I  followed,  determined  to  get  some 
buffalo  meat  before  I  returned  to  camp.  I  knew  I  was  get 
ting  too  far  from  the  camp  for  safety,  but  still  on  we  went,  up 
hill  and  down,  my  little  pony  each  moment  gaining  on  the 
herd.  I  had  got  quite  close,  and  was  about  to  shoot,  when  I 
saw  another  herd  coming  in  the  opposite  direction  at  a  full 
run.  Knowing  buffalo  did  not  move  so  rapidly  unless  fright 
ened,  I  stopped  and  looked  hard  at  them,  but  seeing  nothing, 
I  concluded  they  had  been  started  by  prairie  wolves,  and, 
plunging  the  rowels  into  my  pony,  continued  the  pursuit  after 
my  own  herd.  They  soon  swung  round  to  the  left,  and  joined 
the  herd  I  had  seen  flying  across  the  flat.  I  was  on  the  right 
of  the  herd,  which  was  now  very  large,  and  had  just  singled 
out  a  fine  young  bull,  and  was  about  to  fire,  when,  seeing  the 
head  of  the  drove  suddenly  lurch  to  the  left  and  change  the 
direction  of  the  whole  body,  I  looked,  and,  to  my  horror,  saw 
two  Sioux  Indians  hunting  on  the  right  of  the  herd.  Quickly 
reining  my  pony  up,  I  dodged  into  a  ravine  in  rear  of  the 
buffalo,  and,  riding  around  the  bluff,  waited  with  fear  and 
trembling  the  events  of  the  next  few  minutes.  I  scarcely 
dared  hope  I  had  not  been  seen,  and  yet,  singular  as  it  may 
appear,  such  was  the  case.  Riding  up  on  the  bluff  when  I 
found  no  one  was  after  me,  I  saw  the  buffalo  in  full  flight,  and 
a  dozen  Indians  firing  arrows  into  the  now  thoroughly  fright 
ened  beasts.  I  at  once  took  the  back  track,  and  as  my  route 
to  camp  carried  me  along  the  trail  the  second  herd  had  run,  I 
fortunately  found  the  carcasses  of  two  fine  buffaloes  sticking 
full  of  Sioux  arrows.  I  cut  out  some  choice  steaks,  and  then, 
haggling  the  meat  so  as  to  make  the  Indians  think  a  wolf  had 
been  at  their  game,  I  rode  back  to  our  hiding-place,  taking 
good  care  to  keep  in  the  ravines  until  I  reached  the  creek. 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  373 

Hastily  broiling  some  of  the  buffalo  on  the  coals,  we  saddled 
up  and  left  the  place,  well  knowing  that  the  Sioux  would  re 
turn  to  skin  and  dress  their  game,  and  fearing  they  might  dis 
cover  it  was  a  two-legged  wolf  that  had  been  cutting  up  their 
beef  for  them. 

Had  I  fired  a  single  shot  at  the  herd,  it  would  probably 
have  proved  my  last  buffalo  hunt,  as  subsequent  events  showed 
I  was  near  an  Indian  village,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  large 
Sioux  hunting  party. 

Under  cover  of  night  we  crept  away,  and  by  building  only 
small  fires,  eating  sparingly,  and  riding  hard,  we  succeeded  in 
making  our  escape,  and  returning  in  safety  to  the  military  camp. 


374  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    LVI. 

APPOINTED  A  SECOND  LIEUTENANT  IN  THE  REGULAR  ARMY  —  GO  TO  WASH 
INGTON— CALL  UPON  MY  OLD  FRIENDS  IN  OHIO — JOIN  MY  COMPANY — HUNT 
ING  DESERTERS — WITH  GENERAL  SWEITZER — EXTRAORDINARY  SPORTSMAN 
SHIP — PRAIRIES  ON  FIRE — A  BEAUTIFUL  SIGHT — INDIAN  ATTACK  ON  LIEUT. 

MCCARTHY'S  COMMAND — THE  PHIL.  KEARNEY  MASSACRE  GROUND — LIEUT. 
SHIRLY'S  INDIAN  BATTLE — MARCH  TO  HIS  RELIEF — SCOUTING  ON  THE  POWDER 
RIVER — A  STORM — BLUE  SKIES  AGAIN — THE  CROW  INDIANS— A  NATION  OF 
BEGGARS — NOBLE  CHIEFS — RETURN  TO  THE  FORT. 

IT  was  on  the  10th  of  July,  1867,  that  I  was  informed  1 
had  been  appointed  Second  Lieutenant  in  the  regular 
army,  the  appointment  to  date  from  the  9th  day  of  June. 
This  commission  was  given  me  for  services  rendered  during 
the  war,  and  was  not  a  little  gratifying  to  me,  as  a  position 
in  the  army  would  enable  me  to  continue,  in  a  more  regular 
form,  the  wild  life  on  the  frontier,  of  whicfr  I  had  become 
so  fond. 

As  the  law  then  required  all  officers  to  be  examined  before 
being  assigned  to  duty,  1  immediately  set  out  for  Washington, 
to  report  to  General  David  Hunter,  who  was  President  of  the 
Board  of  Examiners.  In  due  time  I  passed  the  ordeal,  and 
was  assigned  to  the  Second  United  States  Cavalry,  then  serv 
ing  in  the  Department  of  the  Platte.  On  my  return  home  to 
the  West,  I  stopped  for  a  short  time  at  New  Philadelphia, 


BELDEN  :   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  375 

Ohio,  to  visit  some  relatives  and  friends,  and  spent  several 
delightful  days  with  them.  All  the  way  through  the  East, 
I  could  not  help  noticing  how  crowded  together  the  people 
lived,  and  I  can  not  to  this  day  understand  how  it  is  possi 
ble  for  men  to  be  contented  where  there  are  no  prairies  or 
wild  game. 

On  the  8th  of  September  I  started  to  join  my  company, 
which  was  stationed  in  the  Powder  River  country  of  the  Kocky 
Mountains.  Our  route  lay  up  the  Platte  River  to  Julesburg, 
and  thence  to  old  Fort  Laramie,  where  I  was  placed  on  tem 
porary  duty,  with  Company  F  of  the  Second  Cavalry.  We 
marched  to  Fort  Fetterman,  and  then  to  Reno,  where  I  met 
the  command  of  General  Sweitzer,  and  reported  to  that 
officer. 

My  first  military  duty  was  to  pursue  three  deserters,  but,  after 
searching  several  trains,  and  following  them  thirty-three  miles, 
I  lost  all  trace  of  them,  and  returned,  having  made  a  dead  fail 
ure,  for  which  I  received  the  comforting  assurance  of  the  com 
manding  officer  that  I  "would  do  better  next  time" 

General  Sweitzer  sent  me  to  Fort  Phil.  Kearney,  and  imme 
diately  on  my  arrival  there,  I  was  ordered  out,  with  forty  sol 
diers,  to  guard  some  workmen  who  were  cutting  hay  near  the 
post.  The  country  abounding  in  game,  I  amused  myself  by 
hunting,  and  the  first  day  out  killed  four  elk,  one  black-tail 
deer,  and  an  antelope.  The  next  day  I  killed  three  wolves, 
one  of  which  'was  a  large  gray  fellow,  and  the  day  after  that 
shot  a  black-tail  deer  and  a  fine  young  antelope.  Going  into 
the  garrison  to  draw  rations  for  my  men,  I  carried  in  my  game 
with  me,  having  several  hundred  pounds  of  meat,  which  I  gave 
to  the  officers.  From  the  10th  to  the  27th  of  October,  during 
which  time  I  was  stationed  near  the  hay-fields  I  killed  the  fol- 


376  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE   CHIEF. 

lowing  extraordinary  quantity  of  game:  two  buffalo,  four  elk. 
four  Rocky  Mountain  sheep,  eight  black-tail  deer,  seven  ante 
lope,  five  wolves,  five  prairie  chickens,  one  mountain  grouse, 
one  jack  rabbit,  one  small  rabbit,  and  one  fox  squirrel,  besides 
wounding  nineteen  animals,  which  I  did  not  get.  This  was 
considered  good  hunting,  even  in  that  prolific  country. 

In  the  last  days  of  the  month  the  Indians  fired  the  grass  all 
around  the  post,  and  for  a  time  we  thought  we  should  be  burnt 
up.  The  slopes  of  the  hills,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  were 
covered  with  lines  of  fire,  and  tall  sheets  of  flame  leaped  up 
from  the  valley  or  run  crackling  through  the  timber.  The 
parade  ground  of  the  garrison  was  lighted  up  at  night  so  one 
could  see  to  read,  and  for  a  distance  of  many  miles  every  tree 
and  shrub  could  be  distinctly  seen.  The  crackling  of  the  fire 
sounded  like  the  discharge  of  thousands  of  small  arms,  and 
every  few  moments  the  bursting  of  heated  stones  would  resound 
over  the  valley,  resembling  the  booming  of  distant  cannon.  In 
all  my  life  I  had  never  seen  so  grand  and  imposing  a  sight, 
and  never  expect  to  witness  one  like  it  again.  For  three  days 
the  flames  raged  over  a  vast  extent  of  country,  and  then,  hav 
ing  consumed  all  the  grass  and  dry  trees,  went  out,  doing  us 
no  harm,  owing  to  the*  streams  around  the  fort,  which  com 
pletely  checked  the  advance  of  the  destroying  element. 

The  first  day  of  November  a  horseman  approached  the  fort, 
riding  at  full  speed,  and  his  horse  covered  with  foam.  The 
officers  gathered  around  the  head-quarters,  to  learn  what  was 
up,  and  we  were  soon  informed  that  the  messenger  had  brought 
a  note  from  Lieutenant  McCarthy,  which  stated  that  his  whole 
command,  while  escorting  a  train  to  Big  Horn,  had  been  sur 
rounded  by  Indians,  and  that  he  was  then  hard  pressed,  but 
would  endeaver  to  hold  out  until  forces  could  be  sent  to  his 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  377 

relief.  The  messenger  said  he  had  cut  his  way  through  the 
Indians,  and  had  to  ride  for  his  life  all  the  way  to  the  fort. 
General  John  E.  Smith,  who  commanded  the  post,  ordered  me 
to  take  Company  D,  Second  United  States  Cavalry,  and  go 
immediately  to  the  assistance  of  Lieutenant  McCarthy.  In 
an  hour  we  were  well  on  the  road,  and  soon  reached  the  be 
leaguered  command,  which  had  driven  off  the  Indians  before 
our  approach,  and  was  then  moving  on  its  journey. 

As  we  returned  to  the  fort,  we  rode  over  to  the  Phil.  Kear 
ney  massacre  ground,  and  Major  Gordon  pointed  out  to  me  the 
places  where  the  hardest  fighting  had  taken  place.  There,  on 
the  21st  of  December,  1866,  three  thousand  Sioux,  Cheyenne, 
and  Arrapahoe  warriors,  under  the  noted  Sioux  chief,  Red 
Cloud,  surrounded  Colonel  Fetterman  and  his  command,  and 
killed  every  one. 

The  ground  was  still  covered  with  the  debris  of  the  fight. 
Skeletons  of  horses  and  mules,  human  bones,  pieces  of  skulls, 
knapsacks,  torn  uniforms,  and  broken  guns  lay  scattered  over 
the  ground  for  a  mile  or  more.  Major  Gordon  showed  me 
where  Fetterman  made  his  last  stand,  and  where  eighty-six 
soldiers  and  citizens  lay  dead  in  one  pile.  He  also  pointed 
out  to  me  the  rock  behind  which  Jim  Wheatley,  the  guide, 
and  Captain  Brown  had  taken  shelter,  and  in  front  of  which 
fifteen  Indians  lay  dead.  This  massacre  was  unparalleled  in 
the  history  of  savage  warfare.  The  fight  was  desperate  in  the 
extreme,  each  soldier  firing  until  his  ammunition  gave  out, 
and  then  defending  himself  with  rocks  and  the  butt  of  his 
gun.  One  bugler  boy  was  seen  to  knock  two  Indians  down 
with  hia  bugle  before  he  was  run  through  by  an  Indian 
lance.  The  stones  and  rocks  were  still  stained  with  blood 
and  covered  with  hair  where  the  Indians  had  beat  out  the 


378  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

brains  of  the  white  soldiers  with  their  war  clubs.  I  picked 
up  an  old  flint-lock  Indian  gun,  and  it  bore  the  brand,  "  Lon 
don,  1777."  The  history  of  that  gun  would  certainly  be  cu 
rious  could  it  be  written — how  many  battles  and  skirmishes 
had  it  been  in  ?  where  had  it  traveled,  and  how  many  wild  an 
imals,  Indians,  and  white  men  had  it  slain  ?  These  and  many 
other  questions  suggested  themselves  to  my  mind  while  looking 
at  this  relic  of  by-gone  days. 

I  now  remained  in  the  fort  for  several  days,  engaged  in  mil 
itary  duties,  but  found  time  to  ride  out  occasionally  and  shoot 
a  buffalo  or  elk,  these  animals  often  coming  down  in  full  sight 
of  the  post. 

It  was  the  5th  of  November  when  a  runner  came  hastily 
into  the  fort  to  announce  that  Lieutenant  Shirly,  who  had  been 
sent  out  with  a  detachment  of  men,  had  been  attacked  by  two 
hundred  Indians,  and  a  severe  battle  had  been  fought.  The 
lieutenant  had  been  shot  through  the  foot  and  severely 
wounded,  one  soldier  killed,  and  seven  wounded.  It  was  late 
in  the  evening  when  the  news  of  the  battle  reached  us,  and  at 
one  o'clock  at  night  Colonel  Green  left  the  fort  with  two  com 
panies  of  cavalry,  and  arrived  at  the  scene  of  the  battle  about 
daylight  the  next  morning.  We  found  wagons  overturned, 
and  sacks  of  flour,  sugar,  rice,  and  bacon  scattered  over  the 
ground.  Boxes  of  crackers,  packages  of  stationery,  pipes,  to 
bacco,  books,  belts,  scabbards,  swords,  and  broken  guns  lay 
every- where.  A  dead  horse,  and  a  mule  with  a  saddle  yet  on, 
lay  on  the  road,  and  further  out  on  the  plain  were  a  dozen  dead 
ponies,  where  the  Indians  had  charged.  All  the  savages  had 
left,  but  the  trail  was  only  a  few  hours  old,  and  leading  east 
ward.  While  most  of  the  soldiers  went  in  pursuit  of  the  In 
dians,  the  rest  of  us  busied  ourselves  in  looking  after  the 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  379 

wounded.  One  corporal  had  his  thigh  broken,  and  another 
his  hand  shattered,  rendering  amputation  necessary  in  both 
oases  A  soldier  was  shot  through  the  lungs,  another  in  the 
knee  another  in  the  shoulder,  and  still  another  in  the  arm.  A 
citizen,  who  had  acted  as  postilion  to  a  mounted  howitzer,  re 
ceived  a  ball  in  the  thigh.  Lieutenant  Shirly's  wound  was 
very  severe  and  painful,  the  ball  having  passed  through  the 
instep  and  flattened  against  the  sole  of  the  boot.  Shirly  said 
the  principal  object  of  attack  by  the  Indians  was  the  howitzer, 
they  having  killed  or  wounded  every  man  around  it  in  their 
efforts  to  capture  it.  They  no  doubt  wished  to  secure  the 
piece,  so  as  to  shell  and  annoy  the  forts  with  it. 

We  gathered  up  the  stores  as  well  as  we  could,  and,  taking 
the  wounded  men,  returned  to  the  fort.  Soon  afterward  the 
cavalry  came  in,  having  failed  to  overtake  the  Indians. 

I  started  out  to  scout  with  Major  Gordon's  company  of  cav 
alry,  and  the  second  day  a  violent  rain  and  snow-storm  broke 
upon  us.  The  wind  blew  a  gale,  and  we  went  into  camp  as 
soon  as  we  could  find  shelter.  Toward  evening  the  wind  fell, 
the  rain  ceased,  and  the  sun  came  out  bright  and  warm,  dis 
persing  the  gloomy  clouds.  Next  morning,  however,  it  was 
very  cold,  and  we  took  the  road  as  soon  as  it  was  light,  push 
ing  on  smartly  until  we  reached  Fish  Creek,  a  distance  of  four 
teen  miles.  During  the  day  I  shot  several  prairie  grouse,  and 
some  birds.  In  the  evening,  after  we  had  pitched  our  camp,  a 
band  of  Indians  appeared  on  the  hills  to  the  west,  and,  on  being 
hailed,  answered  they  were  friendly  Crows,  and  asked  permis 
sion  to  come  in  and  visit  us.  Major  Gordon  said  they  might 
come,  but  they  soon  annoyed  us  so  the  major  was  obliged  to 
drive  them  off. 

We  marched  to  Muddy  Creek  the  following  day  and  en- 


380  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

camped,  where  the  Crow  Indians  again  visited  us,  and  begged 
every  thing  they  could,  even  to  small  pieces  of  straps.  The 
chiefs :  Bad  Elk,  Little  Wolf,  and  Bird-in-the-Neck  were  with 
them,  and  these  noble  red  men  were  not  too  proud  to  beg,  or 
so  honest  they  would  not  steal. 

Our  march  now  lay  to  Big  Horn,  and,  on  the  third  day, 
which  was  the  evening  of  the  13th  of  November,  1867,  we 
reached  the  post. 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  381 


CHAPTER   LVIL 

GARRISON    LIFE — HUNTING   ROCKY   MOUNTAIN  SHEEP — A  CHASE  AFTER  INDIANS 

—HOW  THEY  CARRY  OFF  THEIR  DEAD — SIEGE  OF   MCPHERSON'S   TRAIN THB 

RELIEF JOY   OF   THE   RESCUED — THE    BATTLE-FIELD MARCH    HOMEWARD — 

THE  DESERTED  LODGE — INDIANS  AGAIN — WOLVES  AND  THE  OLD  BUFFALO 
BULL — AT  PHIL  KEARNEY — BASACHE,  THE  RUNNER — HER  HISTORY — HOW 
SHE  KILLED  THE  BEAR — WHY  SHE  RECEIVED  HER  NAME 

HUNTING,  scouting,  and  reading  occupied  my  time  till  the 
end  of  the  month,  when  I  went  out  to  kill  buffalo  and 
Rocky  Mountain  sheep.  We  soon  saw  three  sheep  standing  on 
some  shelving  rocks,  far  up  the  mountain  side,  and  leaving  the 
corporal,  who  was  with  me,  to  hold  the  horses,  I  climbed  for  an 
hour  among  the  rocks,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  found  my 
self  within  three  hundred  yards  of  a  fine  buck.  I  fired,  and 
he  fell  over,  when  the  ewes  that  were  with  him  started  to  run 
away,  and,  although  I  succeeded  in  putting  two  balls  into  one 
of  them,  she  got  off.  The  buck  had  both  his  fore-shoulders 
broken;  but  was  very  anxious  to  fight  me,  striking  with  his 
horns,  and  kicking  like  a  mule  with  his  hind  feet.  I  soon 
laid  him  out  with  my  big  butcher,  and  started  in  pursuit  of 
the  wounded  ewe.  Following  her  trail  for  over  a  mile,  often 
getting  heavy  falls,  she  at  last  had  ascended  the  rocks,  where 
it  was  impossible  for  me  to  climb,  and  I  turned  back  to  secure 
and  dress  my  buck.  His  horns  were  enormous,  and  cutting 

off  his  head,  I  carried  it  to  the  fort,  where  I  presented  it  to 
23 


I 

382  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

our  accommodating  quartermaster,  Gen.  Dandy,  who  wished  to 
send  it  to  some  friends  in  the  East. 

Next  morning  I  again  started  out,  accompanied  by  Colonel 
Smith,  Dr.  Gisedorf,  and  some  soldiers.  It  was  snowing,  and 
the  thick  undergrowth  made  so  much  noise  that,  although  we 
saw  several  deer,  we  did  not  succeed  in  killing  any.  Leaving 
my  companions,  to  see  if  I  could  not  scare  up  something  by 
myself,  I  soon  came  upon  a  fresh  bear  track,  and  followed  it 
for  six  miles,  when  I  gave  out,  and  sat  down.  Fortunately, 
one  of  the  soldiers  had  followed  me  with  my  horse,  and  mount 
ing,  I  rode  back  to  camp,  having  shot  nothing  during  the  day 
but  a  mountain  grouse.  This  was  the  poorest  day's  hunting  I 
had  ever  done  in  that  country. 

On  the  29th  of  November  the  pickets  on  the  hill  overlook 
ing  the  fort  signaled  "  Indians,"  and  a  few  minutes  afterward 
reported  that  they  were  attacking  the  ox  train,  three  miles  dis 
tant.  I  immediately  saddled  up  some  horses,  and,  accompanied 
by  a  small  party  of  cavalrymen,  set  out  for  the  train.  On  our 
approach  the  Indians,  ten  in  number,  made  off,  and  we  gave 
chase.  After  following  them  about  seven  miles,  we  overhauled 
four  savages,  and  killed  them.  A  dozen  times  we  got  within  a 
hundred  yards  of  the  others ;  but  could  not  get  any  more  of 
them. 

It  was  wonderful  to  see  the  coolness  and  agility  of  the  sav 
ages.  When  one  would  get  wounded  or  killed,  the  rest  would 
halt,  and,  in  a  moment,  lash  him  to  his  horse,  when  they  would 
set  off  again  at  a  full  gallop.  We  succeeded  in  getting  two 
ponies ;  but  the  Indians  put  the  dead  bodies  of  their  comrades 
on  other  ponies,  and  carried  them  off.  One  Indian  was  tied  by 
the  neck  to  the  bow  of  his  saddle,  and  by  one  leg  to  the  cantle, 
the  other  one  dragging  on  the  ground. 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF.  383 

r* 

Early  in  December  a  messenger  came  to  the  fort,  and  re 
ported  that  a  train  belonging  to  Mr.  McPherson  had  been 
attacked  and  corralled,  about  forty  miles  out  on  the  Phil 
Kearney  road.  The  same  night  Mr.  McPherson's  herder  came 
in,  and  confirmed  the  report,  stating  that  the  men  with  the  train 
had  been  fighting  since  Sunday  morning,  and  when  he  left  one 
had  been  killed  and  seven  wounded.  I  was  ordered  out  with 
the  cavalry  company  and  one  mountain  howitzer,  and  directed 
to  go,  with  all  possible  haste,  to  the  assistance  of  the  train. 

We  had  not  marched  more  than  ten  miles  from  the  fort, 
when,  near  Rock  Creek,  we  were  fired  upon  by  a  small  party  of 
Indians,  who  were  concealed  in  the  bluffs.  Their  fire  did  no 
harm ;  and  we  pushed  on  until  near  morning,  when  we  were 
challenged  with  "  Who  goes  there  ? "  and  upon  answering, 
"  Relief  from  the  fort/'  cheer  after  cheer  burst  from  the  throats 
of  the  besieged  men.  They  were  wild  with  joy,  and  many  sat 
down,  and  cried  like  children,  when  they  knew  they  were  really 
delivered  from  a  horrible  death.  Over  two  hundred  Indians 
had  surrounded  them,  and  only  left  when  they  learned  of  our 
approach.  So  closely  had  they  watched,  that  it  was  impossible 
to  get  word  to  the  fort,  and  one  man  was  killed  while  attempt 
ing  to  steal  through  the  Indian  lines.  The  herder  had  only 
escaped  at  great  risk,  and  by  keeping  in  a  ravine  until  he  got 
among  the  rocks,  where  he  crawled  for  over  a  mile  on  his  hands 
and  knees. 

The  battle-field  bore  marks  of  a  desperate  conflict,  arrows, 
guns,  blankets,  dead  oxen,  and  ponies  lying  thick  over  the 
ground.  We  saw  white  human  bones,  where  the  wolves,  in  the 
night-time,  had  dragged  the  bodies  out  on  the  prairies,  and 
eaten  every  particle  of  flesh  off  of  them.  Even  the  skulls  were 
broken  in,  and  the  brains  sucked  out  by  the  ravenous  beasts. 


384  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

Gathering  up  the  wounded,  we  set  out  with  the  besieged 
train  for  the  fort;  and  on  the  first  night  of  the  march  camped 
on  Clear  Creek,  where  we  saw,  in  the  evening,  signals  being 
made  by  the  Indians  on  the  mountain  sides  with  poles  and  red 
feathers  attached  to  the  end  of  them.  Pushing  out  a  small 
party  in  the  direction  of  the  savages,  they  soon  came  upon  a 
lodge  the  Indians  had  just  left,  and  which  still  contained  cook 
ing  utensils,  pipes,  tobacco,  and  some  robes.  Destroying  the 
lodge,  the  party  returned  to  camp ;  and  we  saw  nothing  more 
of  the  Indians.  In  the  morning  I  witnessed  a  curious  contest 
between  an  old  buffalo  bull  and  a  pack  of  wolves.  Nearly  a 
hundred  of  these  fierce  brutes  had  attacked  the  old  fellow,  and 
were  endeavoring  to  pull  him  down.  They  had  torn  open  the 
scrotum,  and  terribly  lacerated  his  hams.  After  watching  the 
unequal  battle  for  some  time,  we  put  an  end  to  it  by  firing  a 
volley  into  the  wolves,  who  scampered  off.  We  then  killed 
the  old  buffalo,  and  started  on  our  march  for  Shell  Creek.  We 
camped  there  all  night,  and  the  next  day  reached  the  fort,  the 
day  being  very  cold  and  a  rain  falling  at  the  time  we  entered 
the  stockade. 

I  now  busied  myself  in  making  a  suit  of  buckskin,  taking 
my  tour  as  officer  of  the  day,  and  occasionally  shooting  a  few 
sage  hens  and  rabbits. 

So  time  passed  until  the  9th  of  December,  when  I  went  out 
one  morning  to  hunt  blacktail  deer ;  and  on  my  return  to  the 
fort  in  the  evening,  I  learned  that  the  Indians  had  been  there, 
and  attempted  to  run  off  the  herd.  I  determined  to  be  more 
careful  in  the  future,  and  remain  in  the  fort,  lest  I  should  lose 
my  scalp. 

I  had  employed,  as  cook,  an  Indian  girl  named  Basache;  and 
as  she  was  good  looking,  I  was  constantly  annoyed  by  young 


BELDEN  :    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


385 


warriors  of  the  friendly  Crow  tribe,  who  came  to  court  her. 
Basache  had  a  history,  which  is  worth  relating.  She  was  a 
Crow ;  and  one  fall,  when  her  tribe  was  out  hunting,  a  startling 

adventure  befell  her,  she 
then  being  a  mere  child. 
The  village  was  pitched  in 
a  valley,  beside  a  heavily- 
timbered  stream;  and  the 
men  were  killing  buffalo, 
while  the  squaws  were  en 
gaged  in  cutting  up  and 
preserving  the  meat  and 
hides.  Basache  had  gone 
out  into  the  woods  to  gather 
berries,  and  was  climbing 
up  a  vine  on  an  old  tree, 
Basache.  to  pick  some  grapes,  when, 

through  an  opening  in  the  leaves  above  her  head,  she  saw  two 
great  eyes  glaring  at  her  from  a  hole  in  the  trunk.  In  a  mo 
ment  she  knew  it  was  a  bear,  and  began  to  descend  as  rapidly 
as  possible ;  but  the  bear  also  slid  rapidly  down  the  inside,  and 
came  out  just  as  Basache  reached  the  ground.  She  started  to 
run,  the  bear  following  close  at  her  heels.  When  she  emerged 
from  the  timber  several  warriors,  who  were  strolling  near  the 
village,  saw  her,  and  aimed  their  guns  to  shoot  the  bear,  but 
feared  to  fire,  lest  they  should  hit  the  girl.  Seeing  the  bear 
would  catch  her,  they  called  out  to  her  to  lay  down ;  and  instantly 
she  dropped  as  though  she  was  dead.  Bruin  came  up,  smelt 
her  face,  and,  taking  his  paw,  rolled  her  over  and  over.  She 
kept  her  eyes  shut ;  and  presently  the  bear  sat  down  beside  her, 
as  if  to  meditate  upon  the  matter.  Bears  will  not  touch  a  dead 


386  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

human  body;  but  Bruin  seemed  to  have  his  doubts  as  to 
whether  Basache  was  really  dead.  Meanwhile,  the  warriors 
resorted  to  various  artifices  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  bear, 
and,  if  possible,  draw  him  off  in  pursuit  of  themselves.  At 
length  they  succeeded,  and  told  the  girl  to  run  for  the  village ; 
but  no  sooner  did  she  rise  to  her  feet  than  Bruin  left  the  war 
riors,  to  pursue  Basache.  She  ran  as  fast  as  she  could ;  but  the 
bear  was  soon  again  close  upon  her ;  when,  seeing  no  chance 
of  escape,  she  stopped,  drew  her  tomahawk,  and,  as  he  came  up, 
dexterously  struck  him  between  the  eyes,  sinking  the  sharp 
blade  deep  into  his  brain.  The  brute  turned  around,  fell  to 
his  knees,  and,  roaring  furiously,  rolled  over  on  his  side,  and 
died.  So  the  Indians  named  the  girl,  who,  before  this  occur 
rence,  had  no  name,  Basache,  "  the  bear-runner." 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF.  387 


CHAPTER    LVIII. 

IFDIAN  ALARMS — THE  SIOUX — STANDING  TO  ARMS — ATTACK  ON  THE  WOOD- 
CHOPPERS — BATTLE  AT  PINEY — DEATH  OP  THE  WOOD-CHOPPERS — PURSUING 
THE  INDIANS— THEY  WON*T  FIGHT  THE  SOLDIERS — ANOTHER  ALARM — FIRE — 
SUSPICIONS  OF  TREACHERY — TO  FORT  RENO  AND  BACK — NEW  YEARS  IN 
CAMP — THE  INDIANS  ON  THE  HILLS — A  COUNCIL— SPEECH  OF  DR.  MATTHEWS 
TO  THE  CHIEFS — THEIR  REPLY — THE  COUNCIL  ENDS  IN  SMOKE  AND  BAD 
BLOOD — TRADING  WITH  THE  INDIANS — A  BRIDAL  ROBE — THE  UPPER  AND 
LOWER  CROWS — BASACHE  DETERMINES  TO  LEAYE  ME — SHE  GOES  TO  JOIN 
HER  TRIBE. 

ON  the  13th  of  December  we  had  a  serious  alarm,  the 
friendly  Crows  reporting  a  large  body  of  Sioux  warriors 
approaching  the  post,  evidently  with  the  intention  of  making 
an  attack,  as  they  were  in  war  paint,  and  had  sent  all  their 
pack-horses  and  women  to  the  rear.  The  companies  were  all 
got  out,  the  cannon  and  arms  cleaned,  and  every  preparation 
made  for  battle.  We  remained  under  arms  all  night,  but 
morning  came  and  we  were  still  unattacked.  About  eight 
o'clock  it  was  announced  that  our  outpost,  at  Piney  Creek, 
near  the  fort,  where  the  wood-cutters  were,  had  been  attacked, 
five  Indians  killed,  and  six  wood-choppers  wounded,  four  of 
whom  had  since  died.  The  Indians  had  captured  all  the  oxen 
and  wagons,  and  driven  them  off.  A  half-breed,  who  came 
into  the  fort,  said  a  number  of  Crow  Indians  were  in  the  fight 
with  the  Sioux,  and,  on  going  out,  we  picked  up  several  Crow 


388  BELDEN  :    THE  WHITE   CHIEF. 

arrows,  which  had  been  fired  at  the  wood-cutters.  This  was 
not,  however,  considered  conclusive  evidence  against  the  Crows, 
as  we  knew  the  wily  Sioux  had,  in  all  probability,  fired  the 
arrows,  in  order  to  get  the  Crows  into  trouble,  they  having, 
of  late,  made  several  efforts  to  induce  the  Crows  to  join  them 
in  their  war  against  the  whites. 

We  marched  out  to  the  relief  of  the  wood-cutters,  and, 
although  the  hills  were  full  of  Indians,  we  could  not  induce 
any  of  them  to  come  down  and  give  us  battle.  We  found 
most  of  the  cattle,  and  brought  in  the  wood-men,  five  of  whom 
were  dead. 

Sioux,  Cheyennes,  and  Arrapahoes  in  great  numbers  continued 
around  the  fort,  causing  us  much  uneasiness — as  we  knew,  from 
their  sullen  deportment,  they  were  bent  on  mischief.  One  night, 
just  as  we  were  going  to  bed,  several  shots  were  fired  by  the 
sentinels,  and  we  all  sprang  from  our  beds,  anticipating  every 
moment  an  Indian  attack.  The  alarm  proved,  however,  to  be 
caused  by  a  fire,  which  had  broken  out  in  the  barracks,  near 
the  corrall.  The  wind  was  blowing  stiffly  at  the  time,  and, 
for  awhile,  the  whole  garrison  was  in  danger  of  being  burned, 
but  the  prompt  exertions  of  the  soldiers  extinguished  the 
flames,  and  restored  safety.  To  add  to  our  troubles,  while  the 
fire  was  burning,  the  Indians  came  around,  and  we  were  by  no 
means  certain  that  it  was  not  a  ruse  to  get  us  off  our  guard 
and  then  attack  us.  The  gates  were  closely  watched,  however, 
and  the  savages  finally  retired  without  making  any  hostile 
demonstrations. 

In  the  last  days  of  December  I  was  ordered  down  to  Fort 
Reno  with  the  mails,  and  set  out,  taking  with  me  thirty  men 
and  two  wagons.  In  three  days  I  reached  my  destination  in 
safety,  having  had  a  pleasant  journey,  and  without  seeing  any 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  389 

Indians.  After  waiting  three  days  for  the  return  mails,  I 
started  for  Kearney,  and  reached  that  place  on  the  31st  of  De 
cember,  thus  closing  the  year  with  a  most  dangerous,  but  suc 
cessful  trip. 

Next  day  1  ate  a  New  Year's  dinner  with  Lieut.  Warrens 
and  his  accomplished  lady,  and  spent  some  delightful  hours. 

On  the  second  of  January,  the  Indians  again  appeared  around 
the  fort,  and  Dr.  H.  W.  Matthews,  one  of  the  Peace  Commis 
sioners  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  Government,  called 
them  to  meet  him  in  council.  A  number  of  chiefs  and  prin 
cipal  warriors  came  in,  and,  after  they  were  all  assembled, 
Dr.  Matthews  rose,  and  said: 

"Chiefs  and  warriors:  There  was  a  time  when  the  Indian 
and  white  man  were  friends.  The  Great  Spirit  and  the  white 
father  at  Washington  desires  they  should  still  be  friends. 
Your  father  has  sent  me  to  tell  you  this,  and  to  try  and  in 
duce  you  to  listen  to  his  words.  He  is  anxious  to  please  you, 
and  wishes  you  to  live  at  peace  with  his  children.  Yesterday 
was  a  great  medicine  day  among  the  whites.  Resolutions  and 
good  intentions  made  on  that  day  are  sacred,  and  will  be  kept 
throughout  the  year.  We  resolved  to  be  at  peace  with  you, 
and  have  sent  for  you,  that  we  might  talk  together  and  under 
stand  one  another.  I  hope  that  the  peace  we  now  make  will 
be  a  lasting  one,  and  kept,  not  only  throughout  the  year,  but 
forever.  I  would  like  to  make  a  treaty  now,  but  the  great 
father  will  not  permit  me  to  do  so,  as  I  am  but  a  subordinate 
chief.  He  has  authorized  me,  however,  to  say  to  you,  that  if 
you  will  cease  from  war  on  his  people  during  the  winter,  early 
in  the  spring  he  will  send  his  commissioners,  who  are  great 
chiefs,  to  sign  your  treaty  at  Laramie.  This  offer  he  makes 
you  as  a  last  offer,  and  if  you  reject  it,  the  white  father  will 


390  B!,LDEN:   THE  WHITE   CHIEF. 

be  very  angry.  He  loves  you,  but  is  not  afraid  to  punish  you. 
I  hope  you  will  consider  well  what  I  have  said,  and  decidt 
wisely  on  peace." 

When  this  speech  had  been  translated  into  Sioux,  Cheyenne, 
and  Arrapahoe,  so  that  all  the  Indians  understood  it,  the  doctor 
sat  down,  and  a  Sioux  warrior,  named  "  Stabber,"  addressed  the 
council  as  follows : 

"Whoever  our  father,  who  has  just  spoken,  is,  I  believe  he  is 
a  good  man.  We  are  told  that  the  great  father  (President) 
sent  word  some  time  ago  for  his  soldiers  to  leave  the  country, 
and  I  want  to  tell  you  that  we  want  them  to  hurry  and  go. 
Send  word  to  the  great  father  to  take  away  his  warriors  with 
the  snow,  and  he  will  please  us.  If  they  can  go  right  away, 
let  it  be  done,  so  that  we  can  bring  our  old  men,  women,  and 
children  to  live  on  these  grounds  in  peace,  as  they  did  before 
you  all  came  here.  The  Sioux,  Arrapahoes,  and  Cheyennes 
never  fought  each  other  until  you  came  and  drove  away  the 
game  (meaning  in  the  whole  West),  and  then  attempted  to 
drive  us  away.  Now  we  fight  each  other  for  sufficient  ground 
to  hunt  upon,  though  all  the  lands  to  the  East  were  once  ours. 
We  are  talking  to-day  on  our  own  grounds.  God  Almighty 
made  this  ground,  and  when  he  made  it  he  made  it  for  us. 
Look  about  you,  and  see  how  he  has  stocked  it  with  game. 
The  elk,  the  buffalo,  and  deer  are  our  meat,  and  he  put  them 
here  for  us  to  feed  upon.  Your  homes  are  in  the  East,  and 
you  have  beef  cattle  to  eat.  Why,  then,  do  you  come  here  to 
bother  us  ?  What  have  you  your  soldiers  here  for,  unless  it  is 
to  fight  and  kill  us?  If  you  will  go  away  to  your  homes  and 
leave  us,  we  will  be  at  peace ;  but  if  you  stay,  we  will  fight. 
We  do  not  go  to  your  homes;  then  why  come  to  ours?  You 
say  we  steal  your  cattle  and  horses;  well,  do  you  not  know 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  391 

that  when  you  come  into  our  lands,  and  kill  and  drive  away 
the  game,  you  steal  from  us?  That  is  the  reason  we  steal  your 
stock.  I  am  done." 

When  "  Stabber  "  sat  down,  "  Black  Hawk  "  came  forward, 
and  said: 

"  Where  was  I  made  ?  I  was  raised  in  the  West,  not  in  the 
East.  I  was  not  raised  in  a  chair,  but  grew  upon  the  ground. 
(He  then  sat  down  on  the  earth,  and  continued :)  Here  is  my 
mother,  and  I  will  stay  with  her  and  protect  her.  Laramie 
has  always  been  our  place  for  talking,  and  I  did  not  like  to 
come  here.  You  are  getting  too  far  West.  You  have  killed 
many  of  our  young  men,  and  we  have  killed  some  of  yours 
in  return.  I  want  to  quit  fighting  to-day.  I  want  you  to  take 
pity  on  us  and  go  away." 

A  Cheyenne  chief  next  addressed  the  council.     He  said  : 

"We  have  been  told  that  these  forts  are  to  be  abandoned 
and  the  new  road  given  up,  and  we  have  come  in  to  see  about 
it.  If  this  is  true,  tell  me  so.  I  never  thought  we  would 
come  to  a  Council  so  far  west;  but  the  old  men  prevailed,  and 
we  are  here.  All  last  summer  we  heard  that  Gen.  Harney 
wanted  to  see  us  at  Laramie;  but  we  would  not  go.  Gen. 
Sherman  also  sent  for  us ;  but  we  would  not  listen  while  you 
were  here.  I  do  n't  know  the  name  of  my  father  there  (point- 
to  Dr.  Matthews),  nor  who  at  present  is  my  great  father 
(President)  at  Washington;  but  this  I  do  know,  my  father 
(his  parent),  when  he  raised  me,  told  me  to  shake  hands  with 
the  white  man,  and  try  to  live  at  peace  with  him,  for  he  was 
very  powerful.  But  my  father  also  told  me  to  fight  my  ene 
mies,  and  since  the  white  man  has  made  himself  an  enemy,  I 
fight  him.  How  are  you  our  enemy  ?  You  come  here,  and 
drive  away  our  game ;  and  he  who  does  that  steals  from  us  our 


392  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

bread,  and  becomes  the  Indian's  bitterest  enemy,  for  the  Indiaii 
must  have  food  to  live.  I  have  fought  you,  and  I  have  stolen 
from  you ;  but  I  have  done  both  to  live.  The  only  road  you 
have  a  right  to  travel  is  the  Platte  road.  We  have  never 
crossed  it  to  fight  you.  I  am  a  soldier.  I  have  a  great  many 
young  men  here  who  are  soldiers,  and  will  do  my  bidding.  It 
is  our  duty  to  protect  and  feed  our  old  men,  women,  and  chil 
dren,  and  we  must  do  it.  If  you  are  friendly,  why  do  n't  you 
give  us  powder  and  bullets  to  shoot  game  with  ?  We  will  not 
use  them  against  you,  unless  you  do  us  harm.  I  want  ten 
kegs ;  and  when  the  other  tribes  know  that  you  have  given 
them  to  me,  they  will  know  we  are  good  friends,  and  will  come 
in  and  treat,  and  we  will  all  live  at  peace.  I  came  here  to  hear 
talk;  not  to  make  talk.  We  are  poor.  Take  pity  on  us,  and 
deal  justly  by  us.  I  have  done." 

The  next  speaker  was  a  Crow  chief,  who,  standing  by  the 
council  table,  said : 

"Sioux,  Cheyennes,  Arrapahoes,  Crows,  Father:  I  have 
been  listening  to  your  words,  and  they  sound  good.  I  hope 
you  are  not  lying  to  each  other.  The  Crows  have  long  been 
the  friends  of  the  whites,  and  we  want  peace  for  all.  We  want 
powder;  and  when  the  white  father  makes  us  presents,  I 
want  him  to  give  us  a  good  deal  of  ammunition." 

An  Arrapaho  chief  said  : 

I  want  to  say  this :  You  are  here  with  your  soldiers ;  and 
what  for?  Soldiers  are  your  fighting  men.  Do  you  then 
want  to  fight  ?  If  so,  tell  us.  If  you  desire  peace,  send  your 
soldiers  away.  I  have  some  of  your  stock.  I  would  like  to 
see  you  come,  and  try  to  get  it  back." 

This  closed  the  speaking  on  the  part  of  the  Indians,  and  Dr. 
Matthews  replied.  He  said  that  the  Peace  Commissioners 


BELDEX:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  393 

would  as  willingly  meet  at  Laramie  as  at  any  other  place ;  but 
that  it  was  more  convenient  for  the  Indians  to  come  to  Fort 
Kearney.  He  did  not  say  when  the  posts  would  be  abandoned, 
or  the  country  and  roads  given  up.  He  made  no  reply  to  the 
demands  for  powder ;  but  simply  said :  "  If  the  Indians  cease 
fighting,  and  keep  the  peace  during  the  winter,  the  Commis 
sioners  will  meet  them  in  the  spring,  and  make  a  treaty  which 
will  be  satisfactory  to  both  parties." 

The  council  broke  up,  having  effected  no  good  result;  and 
the  Indians  left  more  dissatisfied  than  ever.  When  asked  why 
Red  Cloud  did  not  attend  the  council,  a  chief  replied :  "  He 
has  sent  us,  as  the  great  father  has  sent  you.  When  the 
great  father  comes,  Red  Cloud  will  be  here."  This  evidently 
meant  that  the  haughty  chief  would  only  treat  through  his 
agents  or  ministers,  unless  the  President  was  present  in  person. 

After  the  council  I  went  down  to  the  Arrapahoe  camp  to 
trade  for  some  buffalo  robes,  and  finally  succeeded  in  getting  a 
fine  bridal  robe ;  but  had  to  pay  the  enormous  price  of  $98  for 
it.  I  brought  it  up  to  the  post,  and  showed  it  to  the  officers, 
some  of  whom  had  never  seen  so  fine  a  robe;  and  all  wanted 
to  buy  it.  Gen.  Smith  wished  me  to  get  him  one,  and  seeing 
he  had  taken  a  great  fancy  to  the  one  I  had,  I  presented  it  to 
him ;  but  had  hard  work  to  prevail  upon  the  good  old  man  to 
accept  so  valuable  a  present.  Next  morning  I  went  into  the 
Sioux  camp  to  buy  another  robe ;  but  could  not  induce  the  In 
dians  to  sell  any  for  money,  though  they  offered  me  any  thing 
they  had  for  powder  and  bullets.  A  single  charge  of  powder 
was  worth  $4,  and  four  ounces  of  the  little  black  grains  would 
bring  $40.  The  officers  were  not  allowed  to  sell  the  Indians 
ammunition,  however ;  and  so  I  failed  to  make  any  trades. 

One  day  Basache,  my  Indian  cook,  came  to  me  in  great  glee, 

84 


394  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

and  announced  that  the  Upper  Missouri  Crows,  who  had  not 
visited  the  Montana  Crows  for  some  years,  were  coming  down 
to  live  with  them.  She  said  her  father  was  the  head  chief  of 
the  Upper  Crows ;  and  she  must  go  immediately  on  their  ar 
rival,  an.d  join  her  tribe.  I  readily  acquiesced,  and  gave  the 
happy  girl  a  present  of  a  new  dress  to  wear  on  the  occasion.  1 
asked  her  to  stay  a  few  days  longer,  and  tan  some  skins  foi 
Gen.  Smith,  which  she  said  she  would  be  pleased  to  do.  On 
the  eighth  day  she  went  away ;  and  I  was  sorry  to  part  with 
her,  for  she  really  was  a  very  kind-hearted  and  useful  servant. 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  395 


CHAPTEE    LIX. 

BED    CLOUl?    ABOZTT — BASACHE    RETURNS SHE    IS    TIRED    OP    BEING    A    CHIEF'S 

DAUGHTER    WITH    NOTHING    TO     EAT — INDIAN     ARTICLES    OF    VALUE — THEIR 

PRICE — LETTERS    FROM    HOME — STARTLING    NEWS A   CURIOUS    CEREMONY — 

CHRISTENING    AN    INDIAN    CHILD — SUPERSTITION    ABOUT    CRYING THE    DOG 

LAW — INDIANS   EATING    DOGS — AN   AMUSING  OCCURRENCE — NO  FAVOR  AMONG 
CURS — THE  SPRING  COMING BIRD   SHOOTING. 

ABOUT  the  middle  of  January,  Red  Cloud  came  down 
and  encamped  within  ten  miles  of  the  fort,  sending  word 
he  was  for  peace,  but  would  not  come  to  the  post,  or  talk  with 
any  of  the  officers.  At  the  same  time,  Basache  came  back  and 
begged  me  to  take  her  again  into  my  service.  She  found  it 
much  pleasanter,  and  far  preferable,  to  being  even  a  great  chief 's 
daughter.  These  chiefs  had  little  else  for  women,  she  said,  than 
plenty  of  hard  work ;  so  I  returned  her  to  my  pots  and  kettles, 
and  she  was  once  more  happy.  She  had  been  with  me  but  a 
short  time,  when  her  father  sent  her  word  to  return  to  the  tribe, 
and  notified  me  that  Basache  must  not  live  any  longer  with  the 
whites.  I  advised  her  to  go  back  to  her  father's  lodge,  but  this 
she  positively  declined  to  do. 

I  had,  by  trading  with  Indians,  secured  a  great  many  curi 
ous  and  valuable  things,  and  as  the  list  of  articles  in  my 
cabinet  shows  the  variety  and  cost  of  Indian  goods,  I  will  here 
append  it: 


396 


BELDEN:   THE  WHITE   CHIEF. 


One  Lance,       

.    $500 

Two  Bows,    

.        .           8  00 

One  Pipe-tomahawk, 

.      10  00 

Seven  Arrows,               .        . 

Arrapahoe, 

1  75 

750 

One  Arrow,           .... 

Nee  Perce, 

25 

Fifteen  Arrows,        .... 

Crow, 

3  75 

Ten  Arrows,          .... 

Cheyenne,   . 

2  50 

One  Bow-case  and  Quiver, 

500 

One  Gun-cover  —  beaded, 

Sioux, 

10  00 

Two  Knife  Scabbards,      . 

.      12  00 

One  set  Scalp  Feathers, 

Sioux, 

1  00 

One  pair  Moccasins, 

1  00 

One  pair  Moccasins,      .        .        . 

Cheyenne,   . 

5  00 

One  pair  Moccasins,          .        .        . 

.      1000 

Two  Tobacco  Pouches, 

Sioux,          . 

10  00 

One  Gun  Case,          .... 

2  50 

One  Saddle  Cover, 

Sioux, 

5  00 

One  Hundred  Brass  Beads, 

Nee  Perce, 

.      10  00 

One  Squaw  Dress,          .        . 

Sioux, 

7500 

One  Double-knife  Scabbard,     . 

2  50 

One  Single-knife  Scabbard, 

Sioux,          . 

1  00 

One  Beaded  Belt,     .... 

500 

One  Beaded  Buffalo  Kobe,    . 

Sioux,          . 

35  00 

One  Painted  Buffalo  Kobe,       . 

Sioux,     . 

.      25  00 

One  Painted  Buffalo  Kobe, 

Cheyenne, 

20  00 

One  Porcupine  Garnished  Kobe, 

.      20  00 

Two  other  fine  Kobes,    .         .        . 

Sioux, 

...          6000 

One  tanned  Grizzly  Bear  Skin, 

Sioux,     . 

.      2500 

One  Red  Stone  Pipe,     . 

Sioux, 

500 

One  pair  Leggings  —  beaded,    . 

2  50 

Six  Arrapahoe  Arrows}         .        . 

Arrapahoe, 

1  50 

Three  Buffalo  Robes  —  plain,    . 

One  Indian  Blanket  —  painted, 

Sioux, 

20  00 

Twenty-seven  Strings  Beads,     . 

Sioux,     . 

.      27  00 

Thirty-five  Strings  Beads,    . 

17  50 

One  Indian  Pony,     . 

.      75  00 

One  Garnished  Bridal  Robe, 

Sioux, 

98  80 

One  Garnished  Bridal  Robe,  . 

Cheyenne, 

.      7500 

The  routine  of  garrison  duty  occupied  us  until  the  fifth  day 
of  February,  when  I  received  letters  from  home  informing  me 
of  the  marriage  of  my  eldest  sister,  and  the  death  of  a  lady 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  ,  397 

who  was  an  old  and  esteemed  friend  of  the  family.  The  letter 
of  the  husband  of  this  lady,  written  to  a  brother  then  at  our 
post,  was,  to  me,  one  of  the  most  touching  epistles  I  had  ever 
read,  and  it  made  a  deep  impression  upon  my  mind. 

While  at  Fort  Phil.  Kearney,  I  was  called  upon  to  partici 
pate  in  the  curious  ceremony  of  christening  an  Indian  child. 
The  father,  Raphael  Galleg£s,  was  a  half-breed,  and  the  mother 
a  Sioux  Indian.  A  Sioux  warrior  stood  up  on  the  mother's 
part,  and  I  represented  the  father.  All  the  women,  except  the 
mother,  were  excluded  from  the  building,  and  then  a  bunch  of 
sweet-scented  grass  was  rolled  up  with  some  "  Indian  medicine," 
in  a  piece  of  elkskin,  and  set  on  fire.  The  room  was  soon  filled 
with  smoke,  and  the  mother,  taking  the  child,  held  him  over  the 
fire  until  the  little  fellow  was  completely  smoked,  when  the 
father,  taking  him  by  the  left  hand,  called  him  by  name, 
"George  Galleges."  The  mother  next  dropped  some  clear 
water  on  his  face,  and  rubbing  him  thoroughly,  the  ceremony 
was  ended.  It  was  considered  a  good  omen,  that  during  the 
ceremony  the  child  did  not  cry,  for  if  he  had,  it  would  have 
been  emblematical  of  a  troublesome  life,  and  that  he  would 
become  an  enemy  of  his  "godfather."  I  was  thoroughly  glad, 
therefore,  when  the  little  fellow  thus  showed  his  good  temper, 
for  it  would  have  given  me  great  pain  to  reflect  that,  in  after 
life,  I  should  be  obliged  to  kill  my  Indian  namesake. 

About  this  time  there  was  an  amusing  occurrence  at  the  gar 
rison  that  will  bear  relating.  The  post  had  become  filled  with 
dogs,  and  General  Smith,  the  commanding  officer,  determined 
to  get  rid  of  the  nuisance.  An  order  was  accordingly  issued  to 
shoot  all  dogs  found  running  at  large  during  the  daytime ;  and 
soon  several  curs  who  had  no  masters  to  tie  them  up  were  killed 

and   thrown   outside  the  stockade.     The   Indians,  who  were 
24 


398  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

camped  near,  were  not  long  in  learning  of  the  order;  and, 
every  morning,  presented  themselves  to  receive  the  dead  car 
casses.  One  day,  the  officer  of  the  day  shot  a  large  dog  near 
the  guard-house,  and,  on  turning  around,  to  his  horror  saw  his 
own  favorite  dog  following  him.  He  ordered  the  sentinel  not 
to  shoot  him,  and  immediately  sent  him  home  and  had  him  tied 
up;  but  the  officer  to  whom  the  dog  that  had  been  shot  be 
longed,  watched  his  chance,  and  threw  the  dog  belonging  to  the 
officer  of  the  day  over  the  stockade,  when  he  was  immediately 
nabbed,  killed,  and  cooked  by  the  Indians.  This  created  a 
great  row  about  the  dog-law,  but  it  was  finally  decided  that  it 
would  not  do  to  be  partial,  and  that,  if  one  loose  dog  was  killed, 
all  must  share  the  same  fate. 

It  was  now  well  along  in  the  month  of  March,  and  the  sun 
was  becoming  quite  warm,  so  that  we  knew  the  spring  was 
approaching.  Birds  were  numerous,  and  I  often  went  out 
hunting  near  the  post  and  met  with  good  success,  but  did  not 
dare  venture  far  enough  away  to  kill  larger  game  than  rabbits, 
hens,  and  occasionally  an  antelope  or  deer. 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  399 


CHAPTER      LX. 

THE  SIOUX  THREATEN  FORT  KEARNEY — ATTACK  ON  INFANTRYMEN — RUN  INTO 
THE  FORT — GENERAL  SMITH'S  INTERVIEW  WITH  THE  SIOUX — WHO  THEY 
WERE  AND  WHAT  THEY  SAID — A  CAVALRY  SCARE — THE  INDIANS  ENCAMP 

NEAR    THE     FORT — THEIR    DEFIANCE — A    TRAIN    SIGNALED WE    GO    OUT    TO 

MEET    IT — CORRALLED    BY    INDIANS  —  DESPERATE    SITUATION  —  A    FIGHT  — 
TWENTY   AGAINST    TWO — A     STRUGGLE    FOR    LIFE — THE  GATES    OF  THE   FORT 

THROWN     OPEN SAVED  —  PUNISHMENT     OF     THE     INDIANS  —  RETURN     TO 

FRIENDS — A  JOYFUL  EVENING. 

ON  the  8th  day  of  April  the  Sioux,  mounted  on  fleet  horses, 
appeared  in  large  numbers  on  the  bluffs  north  of  the  fort, 
and  rode  furiously  around  the  hilltops,  yelling  and  brandishing 
their  weapons  in  a  hostile  manner.  Many  of  them  carried  scalp 
poles,  and  were  dressed  in  feathers  and  war  paint.  Most  of  the 
former  parties  had  professed  friendship,  but  these  fellows  would 
not  come  down  to  the  fort,  and  were  defiant  in  their  actions. 
Some  of  the  officers  went  outside  of  the  stockade  to  see  the  In 
dians,  but  the  savages  would  not  allow  them  to  approach  the 
hill  on  which  they  were.  General  Smith  then  signaled  them 
to  come  into  the  fort,  but  they  refused.  Three  or  four  of  them 
crossed  the  creek  and  galloped  toward  the  fort,  but  wheeled 
suddenly  and  made  off.  Presently  we  saw  three  infantry  sol 
diers,  who  had  been  out  hunting,  running  for  the  fort,  and  a 
long  line  of  Indians,  stretched  out  like  skirmishers,  following 


400  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

close  in  pursuit  of  them.  The  men  were  nearly  exhausted,  and 
the  Indians  could  easily  have  overtaken  them,  but  seemed  only 
desirous  of  giving  them  a  good  fright.  We  opened  the  gates 
and  let  the  poor  fellows  in,  who,  perhaps,  never  were  so  happy 
in  their  lives  as  when  they  saw  the  gates  of  the  fort  close  be 
tween  them  and  their  enemies.  The  stockade  was  crowded  with 
meo,  and  the  Indians  sat  quietly  on  their  horses,  apparently 
watching  to  see  what  we  would  do.  General  Smith  ordered 
the  cavalry  to  saddle  up  and  stand  to  horse,  and  then,  taking 
Boyer,  the  interpreter,  rode  out  of  the  fort  and  approached  the 
hill  where  the  Indians  were.  He  wished  to  go  up  to  the  sav 
ages,  but  Boyer  advised  him  not  to  do  so,  and,  yielding  to  his 
advice,  General  Smith  told  him  to  call  to  the  Indians  to  come 
down  and  talk  with  him,  which  he  did,  but  for  some  time  could 
succeed  in  getting  no  reply,  when  General  Smith,  advancing  a 
few  steps,  cried  out,  "How!  "  This  was  immediately  answered 
by  some  one  on  the  hill  with  "How!"  The  general  then 
directed  Boyer  to  repeat  again  that  he  wished  to  talk  with 
them,  and  an  Indian,  who  seemed  to  be  a  chief,  inquired, 
"What  do  you  want  to  talk  about?" 

Gen.  Smith  (to  Boyer).  "Ask  him  who  they  are  and  what 
they  Vant." 

The  Chief.  "  We  are  part  of  Red  Cloud's  warriors,  and  come 
to  see  when  you  are  going  to  leave  our  country  with  your 
soldiers." 

Gen.  Smith.  "Ask  them  where  they  have  come  from,  and 
where  they  are  going." 

The  Chief.  "We  have  been  fighting  the  Snakes  on  the 
Laramie  road,  and  are  going  north." 

The  chief  and  three  or  four  warriors  then  rode  down  quite 
near  the  general,  and  the  interview  continued. 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  401 

Gen.  Smith.  "  Tell  them  they  have  been  expected  for  some 
time  by  the  Peace  Commissioners  at  Laramie,  to  sign  the  treaty 
about  these  lands." 

The  Chief.  "  We  have  been  at  the  big  talk  at  Laramie,  and 
the  Commissioners  promised  us  the  forts  should  be  pulled  down 
and  the  country  abandoned  in  two  months." 

Ger..  Smith.    "  Ask  him  if  the  time  is  up." 

The  Chief.  "  It  is,  and  we  want  to  know  why  you  stay  here 
with  your  soldiers." 

Gen.  Smith.  "  We  have  made  preparations  to  go,  and  will 
leave  as  soon  as  we  are  ready,  but  if  your  warriors  commit 
depredations  or  kill  any  more  white  men,  we  will  not  go  at 
all,  but  stay  here,  kill  you,  and  drive  off  your  game." 

The  Chief.  "  We  are  not  afraid,  but  I  want  you  to  go,  and 
meantime  give  me  some  food  for  my  young  men  to  eat.  Do 
you  see  that  creek  over  there?  Give  me  something  to  eat,  and 
I  will  go  over  and  encamp  on  its  banks  to-night." 

Gen.  Smith.  "  I  have  nothing  to  give  you,  but  I  want  to 
warn  you  to  restrain  your  young  men  from  committing  any 
depredations  around  here." 

At  this  stage  of  the  interview,  the  cavalry  company,  which 
General  Smith  had  ordered  to  saddle  up  and  stand  to  horse, 
but  not  to  show  themselves,  was  seen  marching  out  of  the  gates 
of  the  fort,  and  as  soon  as  the  Indians  caught  sight  of  it  they 
wheeled  their  ponies,  and,  putting  the  whip  to  them,  never 
stopped  until  they  were  out  of  sight. 

General  Smith  ordered  the  company  back,  and  was  much 
provoked  at  the  interruption  of  his  talk,  as  well  as  the  false 
impression  it  had  made  on  the  minds  of  the  Indians  of  treach 
ery  on  his  part.  Toward  evening  the  Indians  again  returned 

to  the  hill,  but  they  could  not  be  induced  to  come  down  or 

35 


402  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

talk.  One  of  them,  who  was  Red  Cloud's  son,  rode  down, 
and,  passing  around  the  fort,  minutely  examined  the  works, 
but  would  not  come  in,  or  talk. 

Near  sunset  the  Indians  were  seen  crossing  the  flat  towara 
the  creek  where  the  chief  had  indicated  that  he  would  camp. 
The  evening  gun  was  fired  as  they  crossed  the  stream,  and  the 
whole  party  halted  and  looked  at  the  fort.  After  consultation, 
they  seemed  to  think  some  sort  of  defiance  had  been  given 
them,  and  a  warrior,  aiming  at  the  fort  with  his  gun,  fired. 
The  ball  struck  on  the  parade-ground,  but  did  no  harm.  The 
Indians  then  went  into  camp,  but  left  the  next  morning  for  Red 
Cloud's  head-quarters,  which  were  supposed  to  be  near  by. 

Two  days  later,  another  party  of  Sioux  came  down  near  the 
fort,  and,  on  the  day  following,  a  large  band  of  Arrapahoes 
encamped  within  a  mile  of  us.  There  was  no  doubt  now  in 
our  minds  that  the  Indians  meant  mischief,  and  were  gather 
ing  around  the  fort  with  the  intention  of  attacking  it  as  soon 
as  their  numbers  should  be  sufficiently  strong. 

All  remained  quiet,  however,  until  the  10th  of  June,  when, 
about  five  o'clock  in  the  evening,  the  pickets  signaled  a  train 
was  approaching,  and  I  rode  out  with  Lieutenant  McCaulley, 
of  the  Twenty-seventh  Infantry,  to  meet  it.  AVe  had  gone 
across  a  small  knoll  to  the  south  of  the  pickets,  and  passed  out 
of  sight  of  them  but  a  short  distance,  when  suddenly  we  saw 
ten  Indians  riding  down  upon  us.  I  called  out  to  McCaulley 
that  they  were  hostile,  and  we  must  ride  for  the  fort  as  hard  as 
we  could.  Turning  our  horses,  we  set  off  at  full  speed,  and  had 
got  within  full  sight  of  it,  and  only  about  a  mile  and  a  half 
from  the  gates,  when  we  observed  some^twenty  Indians  passing 
directly  between  us  and  the  fort,  evidently  with  the  design  of 
cutting  us  off.  AVe  were  passing  along  the  base  of  a  steep  hill 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  403 

at  the  time,  and  I  told  McCaulley  we  must  climb  the  hill  and 
fight  it  out  until  help  could  reach  us.  Dismounting,  we  clam 
bered  up  the  hill,  dragging  our  horses  after  us,  who  made  the 
ascent  with  the  utmost  difficulty.  When  we  had  got  about  half 
way  up,  several  Indians  came  to  the  foot  of  the  bluffs  and  fired 
at  us.  "We  had  no  guns,  but  I  could  easily  have  killed  one  of 
them  with  my  revolver,  and  was  about  to  fire,  when  McCaulley 
called  out  not  to  shoot  until  they  came  closer. 

We  had  now  got  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  and  took  up  our  posi 
tion  on  the  very  crest.  The  Indians,  going  around  to  where  the 
ascent  was  not  so  steep,  were  soon  seen  coming  up,  so  as  to  sur 
round  us  on  three  sides.  Sheltering  our  horses  behind  the  crest, 
on  the  side  where  there  were  no  Indians,  I  told  McCaulley  to 
hold  the  animals  while  I  drove  back  the  enemy.  Covering  a 
big  savage  with  my  revolver,  I  was  again  about  to  fire,  when 
McCaulley  said,  "  Do  n't  shoot  until  they  charge,"  and  at  the 
same  time  the  Indian,  seeing  my  pistol  pointed  at  him,  turned 
and  ran  down  the  hill,  followed  by  several  others.  I  now 
brought  it  to  bear  on  other  parts  of  the  line,  and  the  cowardly 
rascals  ran  whenever  I  aimed  at  them. 

We  were  in  full  sight  of  the  fort,  and  anxiously  looked  for 
help,  but  as  yet  could  see  no  one  coming  to  our  assistance.  I 
now  examined  my  revolvers,  and  to  my  horror,  discovered  I 
had  but  two  charges  in  the  barrels,  and  no  ammunition  with 
me.  The  situation  was  perilous  in  the  extreme,  and  I  almost 
gave  myself  up  for  lost,  but  determined  not  to  die  without  a 
struggle. 

Suddenly  McCaulley  called  to  me  to  look  out,  and  turning 
my  head,  I  saw  an  In  iian  crawling  on  the  ground  within 
twenty  feet  of  the  hoises.  As  McCaulley  spoke,  the  savage 
fired  an  arrow,  which  barely  missed  the  lieutenant,  and  buried 


404  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

itself  deep  in  the  shoulder  of  his  horse.  The  animal  reared 
and  plunged  with  pain,  but  McCaulley  hung  to  him,  while  I 
pointed  my  revolver  at  the  Indian,  who  sprang  to  his  feet  and 
ran  down  the  hill,  leaping  twenty  feet  at  a  jump. 

I  now  had  to  be  very  active,  and  bring  my  pistol  to  bear  in 
every  direction,  but  observing  I  did  not  fire,  the  Indians  be 
came  more  bold,  and  approached  within  a  few  yards  of  us. 
Then,  taking  deliberate  aim,  I  pulled  the  trigger,  and  an  In 
dian  dropped  from  his  pony  and  rolled  down  the  hill.  The 
other  savages  fell  back  some  eighty  yards  and  commenced 
firing  at  us.  The  wounded  horse  was  very  restive,  and  I  told 
McCaulley  to  let  him  go,  which  he  did,  when  the  animal 
bounded  down  the  hill,  and,  to  our  delight,  most  of  the  sav 
ages  put  after  him.  About  a  dozen,  however,  again  began  to 
ascend  the  hill,  and  borrowing  one  of  McCaulley's  revolvers, 
I  waited  until  they  were  within  thirty  feetvof  us,  when  I  fired, 
ancj  one  fellow  fell,  but  clung  to  the  neck  of  his  pony,  and  with 
the  help  of  his  comrades  got  away. 

They  were  close  upon  us  again,  when  a  shout  of  joy  burst 
from  the  lips  of  McCaulley,  and  turning  my  eyes  toward  the 
fort,  I  saw  the  gates  swing  open,  and  the  cavalry  come  stream 
ing  out.  The  Indians  had  seen  it,  too,  and  were  preparing  to 
charge,  when  I  called  out  to  McCaulley,  if  we  could  hold  on 
a  few  minutes  longer,  we  would  be  saved,  at  the  same  time 
directing  him  to  let  the  remaining  horse  go  and  give  me  his 
other  revolver.  He  did  as  I  desired,  and,  running  around  the 
hill-top,  I  fired  seven  shots  in  rapid  succession,  with  such  good 
effect  as  to  cause  the  Indians  to  take  to  their  heels.  The 
shouts  of  the  approaching  troopers  could  now  be  distinctly 
heard,  and  the  Indians,  putting  whip  to  their  ponies,  soon  dis 
appeared  over  the  hills. 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  407 

During  the  fight,  one  red  rascal,  who  had  a  rifle,  had  gone 
up  on  the  ridge  opposite  us,  and  which  commanded  our  posi 
tion,  and  taking  shelter  behind  a  rock,  had  amused  himself  by 
firing  at  us  for  over  an  hour.  One  of  his  balls  ripped  open 
my  jacket,  and  another  cut  Lieutenant  McCaulley's  sleeve.  I 
also  got  an  arrow  through  my  collar,  and  one  struck  the  vizor 
of  my  new  uniform-cap,  completely  ruining  it.  "We  lost  one 
horse  which  belonged  to  me,  and  had  on  when  captured,  a 
fifty-dollar  saddle,  and  a  Mexican  hair-bridle,  that  I  had  paid 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  for,  but  a  few  days  be 
fore. 

The  cavalry  that  rescued  us,  pursued  the  Indians  and  over 
took  them,  when  they  had  a  sharp  fight,  but  it  is  not  known 
how  many  were  killed,  as  it  was  took  dark  to  see.  We  had 
had  a  narrow  escape,  and  late  in  the  evening,  when  we  returned 
to  the  fort,  and  received  the  congratulations  of  our  friends,  I 
felt  happier  than  I  had  done  for  many  a  day. 


408  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    LXI. 

MY  ARMY  DUTIES — TROUBLES — CUSTOMS  OF  SERVICE — THE  WRITTEN  AND  UN 
WRITTEN  LAW — MODERN  SLAVERY — PERPLEXITIES  OF  A  YOUNG  OFFICER^ 
LIFE — GUARD  MOUNTING — OLD  ARMY  OFFICERS — MILDNESS  OF  THEIR  MAN 
NERS — HOW  THEY  TREAT  YOUNG  OFFICERS — VENERABLE  BUFFERS — GUARE 
CEREMONY — THE  OFFICER  OF  THE  GUARD — POST  ADJUTANTS — OLD  AND  NEW 
GUARDS — RELIEVING  THE  GUARD — POSTING  THE  SENTINELS — MINUTENESS  OP 
MILITARY  DUTY — ERRORS — THE  PUNISHMENT. 

DID  not  get  along  very  smoothly  in  the  army,  the  wild 
-*-  life  I  had  led  having  in  a  great  measure  unfitted  me  for 
the  duties  of  a  soldier.  Thus,  one  day,  after  finishing  my  nice 
new  buckskin  suit,  I  put  it  on  and  went  out  to  show  it  to  my 
friends,  when  the  Adjutant  of  the  post  placed  me  under  arrest 
for  not  wearing  the  United  States  uniform.  On  another  occa 
sion  I  was  caught  with  a  pair  of  moccasins  on,  and  imme 
diately  sent  to  my  quarters  and  threatened  with  arrest.  Then 
I  could  not  be  at  roll-calls  at  the  precise  moment  I  should  have 
been  there,  and  this  enraged  that  peculiar  old  clock,  Major 
Gordon,  who  was  constantly  blowing  me  up.  Other  sources 
of  annoyance,  such  as  omissions  to  cross  a  t  or  dot  an  i  in  pro 
ceedings  of  courts-martial  and  boards,  constantly  presented 
themselves,  so  it  did  not  take  me  a  great  while  to  become 
thoroughly  disgusted  with  the  service.  Those  who  think  an 
officer  has  an  easy  time  of  it  are  most  wofully  mistaken,  for  I 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  409 

certainly  know  of  no  harder  or  more  thankless  labor  than  serv 
ing  in  the  army  of  the  United  States.  Every  man  who  ranks 
you  is  your  master,  and  you  are,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  his 
slave,  though  they  call  it  by  the  polite  names  of  senior  and  jun 
ior.  I  did  not  like  the  dry  old  "  Blue-book,"  and  still  less  that 
excellent  and  entertaining  cobweb  of  Hardee's,  called  "  Tactics," 
while  as  to  the  unwritten  "  customs  of  service,"  there  was  no 
end  to  them,  and  they  were,  if  any  thing,  more  obnoxious 
than  the  written  ones. 

A  single  example  will  serve  to  show  some  of  the  difficulties 
that  beset  the  young  officer  on  entering  service,  and  I  can 
assure  the  readei  the  problem  given  is  only  one  of  many  more 
difficult  that  the  youthful  soldier  is  compelled  to  work  out  im 
mediately  on  joining  his  regiment.  A  day  or  two  after  report 
ing  at  the  garrison,  he  receives  a  neatly-folded  three-cornered 
note,  elaborately  done  in  red  ink,  informing  him  that  he  has 
been  detailed  for  "  Officer  of  the  Guard  to-morrow."  The  cer 
emony  of  "  Mounting  the  Guard  "  generally  takes  place  in  the 
cool  hours  of  the  morning,  in  the  presence  of  the  commanding 
officer,  the  old  officers,  and  the  ladies.  If  a  new  lieutenant  is 
to  mount  guard  for  the  first  time,  the  turnout  is  always  unusu 
ally  large,  and  should  the  poor  devil  make  a  single  mistake  in 
the  long  rigmarole  that  follows,  he  is  not  only  laughed  at  by 
his  comrades,  but  severely  scolded  by  the  commanding  officer. 
There  is  a  form  in  the  "  Blue-book  "  for  mounting  the  guard, 
which  is  about  as  clear  as  the  "  Rule  in  Shelly 's  Case,"  but  much 
of  what  takes  place  is  the  "  custom  of  service,"  or  the  whim  of  the 
commanding  officer,  who  wishes  his  guard  mounted  in  a  "  PAR 
TICULAR  manner."  These  old  bummers,  who  sail  through  the 
world  under  the  general  title  of  "commanding  officer,"  are 
mostly  dried  up  with  age,  and  as  cross  as  a  Texas  cow.  They 


410  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

scrutinize  every  movement,  and  a  saber  held  a  little  out  of  the 
perpendicular,  or  a  hand  half  an  inch  too  high  upon  the  piece, 
will  cause  them  to  rear  and  charge  like  a  bull  in  a  china-shop. 
As  to  a  downright  mistake,  should  you  be  so  unfortunate  as  to 
make  one,  they  no  sooner  observe  it  than  they  grow  purple  in 
the  face  with  rage,  and  if  they  did  n't  swear  they  certainly 
would  burst. 

I  give  the  problem  of  guard  mounting  in  the  regular  army, 
as  I  worked  it  out  when  in  the  service,  though  it  is  a  long  time 
since  I  "  mounted  a  guard,"  and  it  is  probable  I  may  have  for 
gotten  something. 

The  line  has  been  formed,  and  the  officer  of  the  guard  takes 
his  post  in  front  of  the  center  of  his  guard  and  about  four  paces 
from  it.  At  the  command,  "Front!"  given  by  the  adjutant, 
the  officer  of  the  guard  marches  forward  eight  paces,  and  at 
the  command  given  by  the  adjutant,  "  Officers  and  non-commis 
sioned  officers !  About  face !  Inspect  your  guard !  March ! "  the 
officer  of  the  guard  makes  an  about-face,  stands  fast  until  the 
sergeants  and  corporals  reach  their  stations,  when  he  commands, 
"  Order  arms !  Inspection  arms ! "  and,  returning  his  saber, 
marches  to  the  center  of  the  guard,  faces  to  the  left,  and,  march 
ing  to  the  right  of  the  guard,  inspects  the  arms  from  right  to 
left  of  the  front  rank,  then  passes  in  rear  of  the  rank  from  left 
to  right,  scrutinizing  the  uniforms  of  the  front  rank  men.  Next 
he  goes  to  the  rear  rank,  which  is  inspected  from  right  to  left, 
and  the  uniforms  of  this  rank  are  examined,  and  then  the  ser 
geants  and  corporals  are  inspected.  He  then  marches  from  the 
rear  to  the  right  of  the  front  rank,  draws  his  saber,  and,  step 
ping  one  pace  to  the  front,  faces  to  the  left,  and  commands, 
"  Open  boxes ! "  If  there  is  cavalry  in  the  front  rank,  he  passes 
it,  going  down  the  front  line,  and  inspecting  only  the  boxes  of 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  41] 

the  infantry.  The  rear  rank  is  then  inspected,  and,  after  all  is 
done,  he  takes  post  four  paces  in  front  of  the  guard,  and  the 
adjutant  commands,  "Parade  rest!"  when  the  officer  of  the 
guard  lowers  the  point  of  his  saber  to  the  ground,  places  the 
center  of  the  right  foot  in  rear  of  the  left  heel,  and,  crossing  his 
hands  on  top  of  the  hilt  of  his  saber,  stands  still.  The  adjutant 
next  commands,  "  Troop  beat  off ! "  when  the  musicians  march 
to  the  front,  turn  to  the  left,  and  play  down  in  front  of  the 
officer  of  the  guard.  When  they  have  returned  to  the  right 
again,  the  adjutant  commands,  "  Attention  guard !  Carry  arms ! 
Close  order,  march ! "  at  which  the  officer  of  the  guard  brings 
his  saber  to  a  carry,  and,  facing  his  guard,  marches  to  the  center, 
then  turns  to  the  left,  and  takes  his  position  on  the  right  of  the 
guard.  The  adjutant,  seeing  his  last  orders  complied  with, 
commands,  "  Present  arms ! "  when  both  the  officer  of  the 
guard  and  the  adjutant  salute  with  the  saber,  and  the  adjutant, 
facing  about,  reports  to  the  officer  of  the  day :  "  Sir,  the  guard  is 
formed."  The  officer  of  the  day  then  instructs  the  adjutant  how 
he  shall  march  the  guard,  generally  commanding,  "  March  the 
guard  in  review,  sir! "  when  the  adjutant  faces  about,  and  com 
mands,  "  Carry  arms ! "  at  which  the  officer  of  the  guard  also 
comes  to  a  carry  with  his  saber.  The  adjutant  then  commands, 
"  Platoons  right  wheel,  march  ! "  and  the  officer  of  the  guard 
repeats  the  command,  and  then  steps  to  the  left  of  the  first 
platoon,  and  commands,  after  it  has  wheeled,  "  First  platoon 
left  dress !  "  and,  seeing  it  dressed,  takes  his  position  in  front 
of  the  center  of  the  leading  platoon  and  one  pace  from  it. 

The  adjutant  now  commands,  "Forward,  guide  left,  march!" 
and,  as  the  guard  marches  in  review  past  the  officer  of  the  day, 
the  officer  of  the  guard  salutes  with  his  saber.  He  also  must 
command  the  guard  in  its  march,  and  give  all  necessary  orders. 


412  BELDEN:    THE    WHITE   CHIEF. 

When  he  leaves  the  parade  ground,  he  will  command,  "  Right 
shoulder  shift  arms ! "  and  march  his  guard  to  the  guard-house. 
The  old  guard  has  turned  out  and  formed  in  line,  and,  on  ap 
proaching  the  left  of  it,  the  old  guard  will  present  arms,  at 
which  the  new  officer  of  the  guard  will  command,  "Carry 
arms!"  and  march  down  the  front  of  the  old  guard.  Arrived 
on  the  right,  he  will  halt  and  dress  on  the  old  guard,  and  com 
mand,  "  Present  arms !  "  and  salute  the  old  officer  of  the  guard. 
Both  guards  now  come  to  an  order  arms,  and  await  the  approach 
of  the  old  and  new  officer  of  the  day,  and  when  they  come  near, 
the  new  officer  of  the  guard  will  command,  "Old  and  new 
guard  carry  arms !  Present  arms !  "  at  the  same  time  saluting 
with  the  saber.  The  guard  is  then  brought  to  a  carry  and  an 
order  arms,  when  the  prisoners  are  .turned  over,  the  reports  ex 
amined,  the  old  guard  relieved,  details  for  the  day  made,  and 
the  posts  relieved,  all  of  which,  without  going  further  into 
details,  takes  about  as  long  as  what  has  gone  before. 

All  this  duty  has  to  be  done  with  a  minuteness  and  precision 
wonderful  to  behold,  and  if  an  error  is  committed,  the  unfor 
tunate  officer  is  sure  to  catch  it  from  the  commanding  officer. 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  413 


CHAPTER    LXII. 

THE  REGULAR  ARMY — ITS  USE  IN  SETTLING  AND  DEVELOPING  THE  COUNTRY — 
HOW  ARMY  PEOPLE  LIVE,  AND  WHAT  THEY  DO — OCCUPATION  OF  NEW  LINES  OP 
COUNTRY — THE  REGULAR  ARMY  ON  THE  MARCH — CAMPING  OUT — WHAT  IS 
CARRIED,  AND  UOW  SOLDIERING  IS  DONE  IN  PEACE  TIMES— BUILDING  FORTS — 
GETTING  UP  SUPPLIES — FIGHTING  INDIANS — SETTLING  THE  COUNTRY — WHAT 
THE  CAVALRY  DOES — HARDSHIPS  OF  A  SOLDIER'S  LIFE — THE  UNCERTAINTIES 
OF  SERVICE — WHAT  ARMY  OFICERS  ARE  PAID. 

A  S  soon  as  the  traveler  crosses  the  Missouri,  and  enters  the 
-£^-  territories,  he  begins  to  find  the  blue  jackets,  and  the  far 
ther  west  he  goes  the  more  numerous  they  become.  It  is  only 
just  to  the  army  to  say  that  it  has  ever  been  the  pioneer  of 
civilization  in  America.  Ever  since  Washington  crossed  the 
Alleghanies,  and,  with  his  brave  Virginians,  pushed  to  the 
Ohio,  the  work  has  been  steadily  going  on.  From  Pittsburg, 
far  down  the  Ohio  to  the  Mississippi,  and  thence  along  the 
Father  of  Waters  to  New  Orleans ;  next  west  to  the  Miami, 
and  far  up  the  lakes ;  then  to  the  Missouri,  and  so  on  for  thou 
sands  of  miles  until  the  other  ocean  was  reached  through 
Oregon  and  California.  A  line  of  forts  are  pushed  out  into 
the  new  and  uninhabited  country,  and  presently  people  come 
in  and  settle  near  the  posts.  A  few  years  elapse,  and  there  are 
hundreds  of  citizens  in  all  directions.  Then  the  forts  are  sold 
or  pulled  down,  and  the  troops  march  farther  west  to  found 
new  posts. 


414  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

The  knapsacks  are  packed,  the  cavalry  are  mounted,  and  we 
are  ready  to  occupy  a  new  line  of  country.  "  Head  of  column 
west,  forward,  march ! "  and  away  we  go.  What  an  outfit ! 
The  long  lines  of  cavalry  wind  over  the  hills,  and  then  follows 
the  compact  column  of  infantry.  Then  come  a  few  pieces  of 
artillery  and  the  train.  W-hat  a  sight !  Hundreds  of  wagons, 
filled  with  every  conceivable  article  of  food  and  implement  of 
labor :  steam-engines,  saw-mills,  picks,  shovels,  hoes,  masses  of 
iron,  piles  of  lumber,  tons  of  pork,  hard  bread,,  flour,  rice, 
sugar,  coffee,  tea,  and  potatoes,  all  drawn  in  huge  wagons.  Six 
mules  or  ten  oxen  are  seen  tugging  the  monster  wheeled  ma 
chines  along.  The  train  is  generally  preceded  by  a  score  or 
two  of  carriages,  ambulances,  and  light  wagons,  containing  the 
families  of  officers,  women,  children,  and  laundresses.  In  rear 
of  the  train  are  driven  the  herds  of  cattle  and  sheep,  and,  last 
of  all,  comes  a  company  of  infantry,  and,  perhaps,  one  of 
cavalry. 

Day  after  day  the  living,  moving  mass  toils  on  toward  the 
setting  sun.  Bridges  are  built,  gulleys  filled,  hill-sides  dug 
down,  and  roads  cut  along  precipices.  We  wonder  how  the 
pioneer  corps  can  keep  out  of  our  way ;  but  each  day  we  go 
steadily  forward,  seeing  only  their  work,  never  overtaking  them. 
A  ride  to  the  front  will  show  us  how  this  is  done.  It  is  mid 
day,  and  a  company  is  going  out  to  relieve  the  pioneers.  The 
knapsacks  are  lightened,  and  off  we  go  at  a  quick  pace.  At 
sundown  we  come  upon  the  pioneers,  and  find  some  building  a 
bridge,  while  others  cut  down  the  hill  so  the  wagons  can  pass. 
We  relieve  them  of  their  sliovels,  picks,  and  axes,  and  one- 
half  of  the  company  goes  into  camp,  and  the  other  half  goes 
to  work.  At  midnight  we  are  aroused  by  the  beating  of  the 
drum,  and  the  half  of  the  company  that,^is  in  camp  goes  out 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  41£ 

to  relieve  the  working  party.  At  daylight  we  are  relieved  in 
turn ;  the  work  goes  on  day  and  night,  and  that  is  the  way 
the  pioneers  keep  ahead  of  the  train. 

Let  us  return  to  the  column.  It  is  near  sunset,  the  bugles 
sound  the  halt,  and  the  columns  file  off  into  camp.  The  cav 
alry  horses  are  sent  out  to  graze,  the  tents  put  up,  fires  lighted, 
and  the  suppers  put  on  to  cook.  The  white  canvas  gleams  in 
the  setting  sun,  and  the  camp  resounds  with  mirth  and  laugh 
ter.  Water  is  brought  from  the  brook,  and  soap  and  towels 
are  in  great  demand  to  remove  the  dust  and  stains  of  travel. 
Folding  chairs,  tables,  beds,  mattresses,  are  opened  out,  and  car 
pets  spread  on  the  ground.  The  butchers  have  slaughtered  a 
beef  or  two,  and  the  fresh  meat  is  brought  in  for  distribution. 
The  commissary  wagons  are  opened,  and  sugar,  coffee,  rice, 
hominy,  and  canned  fruits  dealt  out.  In  an  hour  we  sit  down 
to  a  smoking  hot  dinner  and  supper  of  roast  beef,  hot  coffee, 
fried  potatoes,  fresh  biscuit,  and  canned  peaches.  If  the  air  is 
cool  the  little  peaked  Sibley  stoves  are  put  up,  and  the  even 
ing  is  spent  in  telling  stories,  playing  at  cards,  and  singing 
songs.  Here  is  heard  the  thrumming  of  a  guitar,  and  the 
sweet  voice  of  woman;  there  are  a  lot  of  officers  playing 
euchre,  and  yonder  a  group  of  soldiers  gathered  about  their 
camp-fire  telling  tales  of  how  they  campaigned  in  Oregon,  or 
fought  the  Comanches  and  Apaches  in  Texas  and  New  Mexico 
twenty  years  ago. 

The  bugles  sound  tattoo,  the  rolls  are  called,  taps  blow,  the 
lights  are  put  out,  and  the  busy  camp  sinks  into  stillness. 
Only  here  and  there  a  light  is  left  burning,  where  the  quarter 
master,  in  his  tent,  is  busy  over  his  papers,  the  adjutant 
making  the  orders  for  the  morrow's  march,  or  a  noisy  trio  of 
officers  continuing  to  an  unseasonable  hour  their  jests  and 
25 


416  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

songs.     No  soldier  is  allowed  to  have  his  light  burning  aftei 
taps,  but  the  officers  can  do  as  they  please. 

Every  one  sleeps  soundly,  for  each  knows  he  is  well  guarded. 
It  is  near  midnight,  and,  if  you  like,  we  will  walk  about  the 
camp  a  little.  Here  is  the  officer  of  the  day,  and  we  will  ac 
company  him.  We  go  out  to  the  edge  of  the  camp,  where  a 
large  group  of  men  are  gathered  about  a  blazing  fire.  "  Who 
comes  there?''  rings  out  upon  the  still  night  air.  "  Friends," 
is  answered  back.  "  Advance  one  and  be  recognized. "  This 
is  done,  and  then  comes  the  cry  of  "  Officer  of  day,  turn  out 
the  guard.  "  There  is  a  rattling  of  muskets,  a  hurrying  and 
bustling  to  and  fro,  and  the  guard  falls  into  line  and  is  in 
spected — so  far  as  to  ascertain  that  all  are  present  and  every 
thing  right.  Frequently  an  officer,  but  most  generally  a  ser 
geant  of  experience,  commands  the  guard,  and  all  the  sentinels 
are  posted  according  to  the  directions  of  the  officer  of  the  day, 
who  receives  his  instructions  from  the  commanding  officer  of 
the  camp. 

The  wagons  are  drawn  up  in  long  lines  or  semicircles,  with 
the  tongues  inward,  to  which  are  tied  the  mules  and  oxen. 
Sentinels  pace  up  and  down  to  see  that  all  goes  right,  and 
rouse  the  teamsters  to  tie  up  the  mules  that  are  constantly 
getting  loose.  The  cry  of  "  loose  mules "  will  bring  a  dozen 
teamsters  out  of  their  wagons,  and  at  least  a  hundred  oaths 
before  the  animal  is  caught  and  secured.  The  cavalry  wagons 
are  placed  twenty  or  thirty  feet  apart,  and  long  ropes  drawn 
through  the  hind  wheels,  to  which  are  picketed  the  horses. 
Guards  are  every-where,  and  the  sentinels  are  keenly  on  the 
alert.  Each  hill-top  has  its  silent  watcher.  The  herds  are 
kept  where  there  is  as  much  grass  as  possible,  and  mounted 
herders  constantly  watch  them,  ready  for  an  Indian  alarm 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  417 

or  a  stampede.  A  cry  of  "  Indians,  Indians, "  produces  great 
life  and  commotion  among  the  herders,  guards,  and  sentinels, 
but  the  body  of  the  camp  does  not  deign  to  move  unless  the 
firing  is  very  heavy,  and  the  order  given  to  "  turn  out."  This 
is  the  Regular  Army  on  the  march. 

When  the  troops  enter  the  Indian  country,  and  the  attacks 
become  frequent,  the  column  marches  more  compactly;  the 
herds  and  wagons  are  kept  well  up ;  the  women  and  children 
put  among  the  infantry;  flankers  thrown  out,  and  a  howitzer 
sent  to  the  front  to  throw  shells  and  frighten  off  the  savages. 
The  boom  of  a  cannon  seems  to  be  the  voice  of  advancing 
civilization,  and  greatly  terrifies  the  Indians. 

At  last  the  line  of  country  that  is  to  be  occupied  has  been 
reached,  and  a  fort  is  built.  This  consists  of  a  stockade,  log- 
houses,  and  shelters  for  the  stores.  Then  the  troops  are 
divided,  and  another  fort  is  built  fifty  or  a  hundred  miles  from 
the  first,  and  so  on  until  the  whole  line  is  "occupied."  If 
there  is  danger,  earthworks  are  thrown  up,  and  one  or  two 
pieces  mounted.  Now  begins  the  work  in  earnest;  keeping 
open  the  communication  between  the  forts ;  getting  up  supplies 
from  the  rear,  and  securing  the  way  for  immigration.  The 
country  is  mapped,  the  land  surveyed,  the  streams  looked  up 
and  named^  and  saw-mills  built.  Settlers  come  in  and  open 
farms  near  the  forts,  and  they  creep  up  and  down  the  valleys, 
and  over  the  hills,  until  they  stretch  away  for  hundreds  of 
miles.  Meanwhile,  there  are  Indian  battles,  surprises  and 
massacres  by  scores.  Hundreds  lose  their  lives,  but  the  set 
tlements  go  on.  There  is  a  little  grocery,  a  rum  shop,  a  town, 
and  by  and  by  a  city. 

Every  spring,  as  soon  as  the  grass  grows,  the  cavalry  takes 
the  field  and  scours  over  the  country  for  hundreds  of  miles. 


418  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

The  infantry  remains  in  the  posts,  or  guards  trains  to  and  fro 
From  April  until  December,  the  cavalry  is  on  the  go  con 
stantly,  and  the  officers  separated  from  their  families.  When 
the  snows  fall  they  come  into  the  forts  to  winter,  but  are 
often  routed  out  by  the  approach  of  their  savage  foes,  and  made 
to  march  hundreds  of  miles  when  the  thermometer  is  far  below 
zero.  It  is  this  that  makes  the  troops  so  savage,  and  often 
causes  them  to  slaughter  the  Indians  without  mercy.  'After  a 
long  and  hard  summer's  campaign,  the  officers  and  men  come 
in  tired,  weary,  and  only  too  glad  to  rejoin  their  families  and 
rest,  when  scarcely  have  they  removed  the  saddles  from  their 
horses'  backs,  when  murders,  robberies,  and  burnings,  announce 
the  approach  of  the  fierce  foe,  and  they  are  ordered  out  for  a 
winter  campaign.  Full  of  rage  and  chagrin,  they  go  forth 
breathing  vengeance  on  all  Indians,  and  after  toiling  a  month 
or  more,  through  ice  and  snow,  with  freezing  hands,  feet,  and 
ears,  they  overtake  the  savages  and  punish  them  with  terrible 
severity. 

The  soldier's  life  is,  indeed,  one  of  danger,  exposure,  and 
trouble.  The  hard-earned  reputation  of  twenty  years,  often,  is 
lost  by  the  misfortunes  of  an  hour.  Old  gray-headed  officers, 
who  have  gained  a  score  of  Indian  fights,  are  surprised  once, 
lose  their  stock,  and  if  they  survive  the  conflict,  are  dismissed 
the  service  for  "neglect  of  duty."  Others,  after  years  of  toil, 
in  a  moment  of  rage,  utter  some  hasty  words,  and  are  dismissed 
for  "  disrespect  to  their  superiors/'  and  others,  again,  for,  in  an 
unhappy  mood,  taking  too  much  barleycorn. 

Nothing  will  give  a  man  more  aches,  make  him  feel  old 
sooner,  or  is  a  more  uncertain  business  than  soldiering.  I 
know  that  a  different  opinion  prevails  in  the  east,  but  it  is 
founded  wholly  in  error,  and  is  dispelled  the  moment  one 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  419 

arrives  on  the  frontier,  and  sees  what  an  important  part  our 
little  army  plays  in  the  great  work  of  civilizing  and  develop 
ing  our  country. 

Even  in  winter  time,  when  in  quarters  and  resting,  the  sol 
diers  are  kept  very  busy.  At  day-break  there  is  reveille,  and 
immediately  afterward,  grooming  of  horses  for  one  hour  and  a 
half.  After  stables,  three-quarters  of  an  hour  for  breakfast; 
then  fatigue  call  and  sick  call.  At  10  o'clock  drill  for  one 
hour.  Dinner  call  at  12  o'clock;  fatigue  call  at  1  o'clock; 
drill  at  2  o'clock  ;  stables  at  half- past  3  o'clock  to  half-past  4 ; 
supper  and  retreat  at  5  o'clock,  and  to  bed  at  9  o'clock,  to  go 
through  the  same  routine  to-morrow.  Besides  these  duties, 
there  are  boards  of  survey,  boards  of  inspection,  schools  of 
instruction  in  tactics,  signals,  and  various  other  matters. 
Where  is  the  business  man,  or  the  professional  man,  who 
works  more  steadily? 

For  these  services,  it  is  generally  supposed  the  officers  receive 
large  pay,  yet,  the  fact  is,  they  get  but  a  miserable  pittance,  as 
the  following  list  of  salaries  will  show :  A  second  lieutenant  of 
infantry  gets  $1,368  per  year ;  a  first  lieutenant  of  infantry, 
$1,428;  a  captain  of  infantry,  $1,648;  a  second  lieutenant  of 
cavalry,  $1,467.96  per  year;  a  first  lieutenant  the  same  as 
second;  a  captain,  $1,648;  majors  of  infantry,  cavalry,  and 
artillery,  $2,160;  lieutenant-colonels,  $2,460;  colonels,  $2,748. 
This  does  not  include  service  rations,  quarters  and  fuel  in  kind, 
or  commutation  of  quarters  and  fuel  when  not  with  troops.  An 
officer  receives  a  service  ration  for  every  five  years  he  has  re 
mained  in  the  service;  it  is  worth  $9  per  month,  or  $108  per 
year.  When  officers  are  serving  with  troops  they  are  provided 
by  the  Government  with  quarters  and  fuel  free  of  charge,  but 
when  they  are  stationed  in  a  city,  or  on  staff  duty,  they  are 


420  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

allowed  to  commute  their  quarters  and  fuel  money,  at  a  price 
fixed  by  the  army  regulations.  If  an  officer  is  married,  it  is 
cheaper  for  him  to  be  with  troops,  and  be  furnished  with  quar 
ters  and  fuel  in  kind  for  himself  and  family;  but,  if  he  is  a 
single  man,  then  he  can  board  in  a  family  in  the  city,  and  his 
money  allowance  for  quarters  and  fuel  will  go  a  long  way  in 
paying  his  expenses. 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  421 


CHAPTER    LXIII. 

FURTHER  ACCOUNT  OF   HOW  INDIANS  GET   THEIR    NAMES — MOCK-PE-LUTAH — TA- 

SHUNK-AH-KO-KE-PAH-PE— CIN-TA-GEL-LES-SCA,  SPOTTED    TAIL'S    DAUGHTER 

CLOSED    HAND — WHITE     FOREHEAD NO    KNIFE — SUPERSTITION     AMONG    THB 

CROWS   ABOUT    TAILS — TICKLING    A    CROW   GIRL,    AND    WHAT    CAME    OF    IT 

BASACHE — BA-RA-WE-A-PAK-PEIS — PEN-KE-PAH — LEAVING  THE  POWDER  RIVER 
COUNTRY — ARRIVAL  AT  RENO,  FETTER-MAN,  AND  FORT  STEELE — RETURN  TO 
FETTERMAN — FINE  HUNTING. 

ONE  day  at  Fort  Kearney  I  sent  for  my  cook'Basache,  and 
asked  her  the  meaning  of  Mock-pe-Lutah.  She  said  it 
was  the  Indian  name  for  Red  Cloud  or  Bloody  Hand,  and  that 
this  terrible  warrior  had  derived  his  name  from  his  deeds  of 
blood  and  the  red  blankets  his  warriors  wore,  who  never  moved 
on  their  enemies  without  appearing  as  a  cloud,  so  great  were 
their  numbers.  Sweeping  down  with  his  hosts  on  the  border, 
he  covered  the  hills  like  a  red  cloud  in  the  heavens,  and  never 
returned  until  he  had  almost  exterminated  the  tribe  or  settle 
ment  against  which  his  wrath  was  directed. 

Basache  then  went  on  to  give  me  some  most  interesting  in 
formation  concerning  the  manner  in  which  Indians  obtained 
their  names. 

Ta-shunk-ah-ko-ke-pah-pe  was  "  Man-Afraid-of-His-Horses," 
and  obtained  his  name  from  having  captured  a  great  many 
horses,  which  he  was  constantly  afraid  he  would  lose.  On  one 
occasion,  when  the  Shoshonee  Indians  attacked  his  camp,  Ta- 


422  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

shunk-ah-ko-ke-pah-pe  left  his  family  in  the  hands  of  the 
Snakes,  to  carry  off  his  horses. 

As  has  been  said  in  another  chapter,  most  Indians  receive 
their  names  from  some  peculiarity  of  person  or  costume,  or  from 
some  misfortune.  Thus,  Ba-oo-Kish,  or  Closed  Hand,  a  noted 
Crow  Indian,  was  so  named  from  the  fact  that  when  young 
his  hand  was  so  badly  burned  as  to  cause  his  fingers  to  close 
iufo  the  palm,  and  grow  fast.  Another  was  called  White 
Forehead,  because  he  always  wore  a  white  band  across  his  fore 
head  to  conceal  a  scar  that  had  been  given  him  by  a  squaw. 

The  Omaha  Indians  name  nearly  every  child  from  some  inci 
dent  or  event  that  occurs  at  the  time  of  its  birth.  Thus,  a 
child  was  born  on  the  march,  and  the  mother  having  no  knife 
to  cut  the  naval  string,  broke  it,  and  the  child  was  ever  after 
ward  known  by  the  singular  name  of  No  Knife,  and  became 
a  noted  man  in  his  tribe. 

I  will  here  give  place  to  a  touching  incident  concerning  a 
daughter  of  the  noted  chief  Spotted  Tail,  the  origin  of  whose 
name  has  been  given  in  a  preceding  chapter.  This  girl,  who 
was  said  to  be  very  beautiful,  fell  deeply  in  love  with  an  officer 
stationed  at  Fort  Laramie.  He  did  not  reciprocate  her  passion, 
and  told  her  he  could  never  marry  her ;  but  the  poor  girl  came 
day  after  day  to  the  fort,  and  would  sit  on  the  steps  of  the  offi 
cer's  house  until  he  came  out,  when  she  would  quietly  follow 
him  about  like  a  dog.  She  seemed  to  ask  no  greater  pleasure 
than  to  see  him,  and  be  near  him,  and  was  always  miserable 
when  out  of  his  sight.  Spotted  Tail,  who  knew  of  his 
daughter's  love,  remonstrated  with  her  in  vain ;  and,  when  he 
found  he  could  not  conquer  her  foolish  passion,  sent  her  to  a 
band  of  his  people  several  hundred  miles  away.  She  went 
without  murmuring;  but,  arrived  at  her  destination,  she  re- 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  423 

fused  food,  and  pined  away,  until  she  became  a  mere  skeleton. 
Spotted  Tail  was  sent  for,  to  come,  and  see  her  die ;  and  being 
a  favorite  daughter,  he  hastened  to  her  side.  He  found  her 
almost  gone  but,  with  her  remaining  strength,  she  told  him 
of  her  great  love  for  the  whites,  and  made  him  promise  that  he 
would  live  at  peace  with  them.  Then  she  seemed  very  happy, 
and,  closing  her  eyes,  said :  "  This  is  my  last  request,  bury  me 
at  Laramie ; "  and  then  died.  The  old  chief  carried  the  body 
to  Laramie,  and  buried  it  with  the  whites,  where  she  wished 
to  lie.  The*grave  has  been  carefully  marked,  and  is  still  an 
object  of  great  interest  to  people  who  visit  the  fort.  Spotted 
Tail,  since  the  death  of  his  daughter,  never  speaks  in  council 
with  the  whites  but  he  mentions  her  request,  and  declares  it 
to  be  his  wish  to  live  at  peace  with  the  people  she  loved  so 
well. 

Several  romping  Crow  girls  being  present,  at  my  quarters 
one  day,  one  of  them,  for  sport,  commenced  tickling  another, 
who  could  not  bear  to  have  any  one  touch  her  under  the  arms. 
The  poor  girl  screamed  frantically,  and  rolled  over  and  over, 
but  the  other  kept  on  poking  her  in  the  ribs  until  she  fainted 
outright.  Basache  then,  in  great  alarm,  raised  her  up  and  called 
to  me  to  bring  quickly  the  scented  grass;  for  the  girl's  tail  was 
coming  up  in  her  throat  and  choking  her  to  death.  I  brought 
the  grass,  of  which  Basache  always  kept  a  good  supply  on  hand, 
and  lighting  some  of  it,  one  held  the  fainting  girl  over  it.  while 
the  other  threw  a  shawl  about  her  head.  She  soon  revived  and 
took  her  departure,  when  I  asked  Basache  to  explain  to  me  whal 
she  meant  by  saying  the  girl's  tail  had  come  up  in  her  throat 
She  said  very  gravely,  "  Every  human  being  has  a  tail  in  hi? 
stomach,  and  it  is  this  that  always  makes  him  sick.  Some 
have  fox  tails,  others  cow  tails,  others  again  tails  of  birds,  and 


424  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

jp 

still  others  dog,  mink,  beaver,  raccoon,  and  horse  tails.  The  lattei 
are  very  dangerous,  and  constantly  liable  to  get  out  of  ordei. 
No  one  can  be  sick  while  their  tail  is  in  order,  but  as  soon  as 
any  thing  gets  the  matter  with  it  then  they  are  sick.  If  a  man 
has  cold,  it  is  his  tail;  if  he  has  fever,  vomit,  rash,  boils,  and, 
above  all,  pains  in  his  stomach,  there  is  something  wrong  with 
his  tail." 

This  theory  was  so  absurd  I  could  not  help  laughing,  at  which 
Basache  was  very  angry,  and  left  my  presence,  but  I  called  her 
back  to  inquire  what  kind  of  a  tail  she  had  in  her  stomach, 
when,  to  my  surprise,  she  promptly  answered,  "  A  wolfs  tail, 
sir."  I  said,  "  Do  each  of  you  indeed  know  what  kind  of  a  tail 
is  in  your  stomach  ? "  "Oh  yes,"  she  replied,  "  every  body 
knows  that,  and  there  is  my  sister,  Ba-ra-we-a-pak-peis,  who  has 
a  cow's  tail,  and  Pen-ke-pah,  whom  you  know  very  well,  has  a 
horse  tail,  which  is  constantly  making  her  sick.  When  Ba- 
ra-we-a-pak-peis  was  younger,  her  tail  troubled  her  a  great  deal, 
and  mother  says  it  often  came  up  in  her  mouth,  and  sometimes 
protruded  from  her  throat,  but  it  never  does  so  now,  since  the 
Indian  doctor  gave  her  some  bitter  herbs  to  swallow." 

All  this  was  very  curious  and  ridiculous  to  me,  but,  upon  in 
quiry  among  the  Crows,  I  learned  it  to  be  a  well-founded  super 
stition,  and  nearly  every  Crow  believed  a  tail  of  one  kind  or 
another  dwelt  in  his  stomach,  which  was  the  sole  cause  of  his 
ills,  aches,  and  pains. 

On  the  29th  of  June,  1868, 1  received  orders  to  escort  a  train 
over  the  mountains,  to  Fort  Steele,  on  the  Platte,  and  as  it  was 
understood  we  would  not  return,  this .  order  occasioned  no  little 
joy.  "We  signalized  the  event  by  starting  on  the  4th  of  July, 
and  in  due  time  arrived  at  Fort  Reno.  From  Reno  we  marched 
to  Fort  Fetter  man,  where  Major  Gordon  left  me,  and  I  con- 


BELDEX:   THE  WHITE   CHIEF.  425 

tinued  to  march  toward  Steele  with  Major  Gregg.    We  arrived 
safely  at  Steele,  on  the  29th  of  July,  and  went  into  camp. 

On  the  6th  of  August  I  set  out  to  return  to  Fort  Fetterman, 
and  had  marched  as  far  as  Elk  Mountain,  by  the  8th  of  the 
same  month.  Here  I  found  the  lumber-men  had  just  lynched  a 
white  man,  and  I  went  up  to  see  the  body,  but  it  was  gone, 
though  a  tripod  with  a  hangman's  noose  at  the  top  was  still 
standing.  Under  this  rude  scaffold  was  a  fresh  grave,  and 
in  it  the  unfortunate  man  slept  his  last  sleep. 

While  marching  up  to  Fetterman  we  found  the  hunting  ex 
cellent,  and  killed  in  all  forty-three  antelope,  three  white-tailed 
deer,  five  elk,  besides  an  immense  number  of  prairie-hens,  rab 
bits,  and  mountain  grouse. 

We  remained  at  Fetterman  until  late  in  September,  and 
while  the  command  was  out  cutting  hay,  guarding  trains,  and 
scouting,  I  had  some  splendid  hunting,  and  enjoyed  myself 
better  than  I  had  at  any  time  since  joining  the  army, 

37 


426  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    LXIV. 

THE  SHOSHONEE  INDIANS — THEIR  FIRST  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  WHITES — 
LEWIS  AND  CHARKE'S  EXPEDITION  UP  THE  MISSOURI  IN  1806 — THEIR  RECEP 
TION  BY  THE  SNAKES — THEIR  EARLY  HISTORY  AND  POSSESSIONS — WARS  Of 
THE  SNAKES — THEIR  ALLIES  :  THE  BANNOCKS — WHERE  THE  BANDS  OF  SNAKES 
ROAM — WASH AKIE'S  BAND — HIS  RESERVATION — HOW  HE  KEEPS  HIS  TREATIES 
GOOD  INDIANS — WHAT  IS  LIKELY  TO  BECOME  OF  WASHAKIE  AND  HIS  PEOPLE. 

THERE  is  a  people  of  more  than  common  interest,  living 
in  the  west,  called  the  Shoshonees,  or  Snakes.  They  in 
habit  a  belt  of  country  lying  on  the  north-west  border  of  the 
territory  of  Wyoming.  Their  earliest  recollection  of  the  whites 
dates  from  1806,  when  Lewis  and  Clarke  made  their  famous 
expedition  up  the  Missouri.  In  a  battle  with  the  Minnetarees, 
of  Knife  River,  the  Shoshonees  were  defeated,  and  several  of 
their  women  and  children  captured.  One  of  these,  Sacajawea,  the 
wife  of  a  warrior,  was  carried  far  down  the  Missouri,  and  there 
Lewis  and  his  companions  found  her.  She  showed  them  the 
way  up  the  Missouri,  to  where  the  Jefferson  Fork  empties, 
which  was  the  place  where  the  battle  had  been  fought.  Cap 
tain  Lewis,  with  three  men,  proceeded  up  the  Jefferson,  in  search 
of  the  tribe,  but  could  not  find  them.  This  was  on  the  first  day 
of  August,  1806.  On  the  third  day  of  the  same  month,  Lewis 
made  another  attempt  to  find  the  Snakes,  and,  although  he  saw 
fresh  moccasin  tracks,  and  knew  the  Indians  were  near  at  hand, 
and  hiding  among  the  hills,  he  could  not  induce  any  of  the 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  427 

*. 

savages  to  show  themselves.     On  the  eleventh  day  of  August, 

however,  he  saw  an  Indian  on  horseback,  near  the  river,  and 
spreading  down  a  blanket,  which  is  the  sign  of  friendship  among 
the  Indians,  the  captain  motioned  the  warrior  to  come  and  sit 
by  him,  but  he  fled  swiftly  away  into  the  hills.  Taking  some 
provisions,  Lewis  set  out  on  the  track  of  the  Indian,  and  on  the 
third  day  saw  several  men  and  women  gathering  berries.  The 
men  sprang  upon  their  horses  and  made  off,  and  the  women  hid 
in  a  ravine;  but  Lewis  and  his  men  captured  one  old  squaw 
and  a  little  girl.  When  the  woman  saw  them  near  her  she  sat 
down,  as  is  their  custom,  and  holding  out  her  neck,  waited  for 
death.  Lewis  raised  her  up,  and  cried  "tabba  bone"  which 
means  white  man,  at  thfe  same  time  stripping  up  his  sleeve  and 
showing  her  his  arm,  for  his  hands  and  face  were  as  bronzed  as 
an  Indian's.  Little  by  little  the  poor  woman  took  courage,  and 
looked  up  when  Lewis  put  beads  on  her  neck,  and  gave  the 
little  girl  a  pewter  mirror.  Then  he  told  her  to  call  the  women 
who  were  hiding  in  the  ravine,  and  she  did  so,  but  only  two 
young  squaws  had  the  courage  to  come  out.  Lewis  painted  the 
cheeks  of  all  three  women  red,  with  vermilion,  and  showed  them 
their  faces  in  the  pewter  mirror,  which  pleased  them  mightily. 
Presently  a  troop  of  sixty  warriors  were  seen  riding  at  full  speed 
toward  Lewis  and  his  companions.  The  women  ran  out  to  meet 
them,  and  showed  the  warriors  the  presents  they  had  received. 
A  parley  took  place,  and  after  some  explanations,  three  Indians 
advanced,  and  embracing  Lewis  cried  out,  Ah-hi-e,  ah-hi-e.  "  I 
am  glad  to  see  you,"  or,  "  I  am  pleased  you  have  come."  All 
the  warriors  embraced  Lewis's  men,  and  then  they  smoked  the 
shoshonee,  taking  off  their  moccasins,  which  means,  "  If  we  are 
false,  may  we  be  barefooted  forever,"  a  terrible  penalty  on  the 
thorny  plains. 


428  BELDEN  :   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

* 

The  whole  party  soon  set  off  for  the  village,  and  when  within 
two  miles  of  it,  they  were  met  by  the  great  chief,  who  made  a 
friendly  speech,  welcoming  the  whites. 

In  the  village,  Captain  Lewis  and  his  party  were  given  leathern 
lodges,  which  were  nicely  fitted  up  with  the  skins  of  wild  animals, 
and  young  men  came  to  build  fires,  bring  water,  and  wait  upon 
them.  The  chief  came  in  state  to  smoke  with  the  white  men, 
first  removing  his  moccasins,  as  a  token  of  his  good  faith  toward 
them.  Lewis  remained  several  days  with  the  Shoshonees,  and 
was  hospitably  entertained  and  pressed  to  stay  longer,  but  hear 
ing  his  boats  had  ascended  to  the  Jefferson,  he  set  off  for  the 
river,  accompanied  by  the  chief  and  his  whole  tribe,  all  wishing 
to  see  the  boats.  This  branch  of  the  Snakes  was  under  a  chief 
named  Cameahwait,  and  numbered  about  four  hundred,  but 
Captain  Lewis  learned  that  the  whole  nation  then  contained  some 
thirteen  thousand  souls,  and  was  scattered  over  a  vast  extent 
of  territory.  They  claimed  all  the  lands  between  the  Missouri 
valley  and  the  Columbia  River.  They  spread  over  the  upper 
Platte,  and  roamed  along  the  Green,  Bear,  Sweetwater,  Colorado, 
and  Wind  rivers.  Their  eastern  neighbors  were  the  Dakotas 
(Sioux),  and  their  northern  lands  extended  to  the  country  of  the 
bloody  Blackfeet.  West  and  south  of  them  ranged  the  Coman- 
ches.  At  the  time,  however,  of  Captain  Lewis's  visit,  the  Sho 
shonees  were  at  war  with  the  Pawnees  and  Minnetarees,  who  were 
found  as  far  north  as  the  mouth  of  Jefferson  River,  on  the  Missouri. 

Lewis  found  the  Snakes  armed  with  bows,  arrows,  and  shields, 
but  a  few  had  fusils,  which  they  had  obtained  from  the  Yellow 
stone  Indians,  who  had  ;got  them  from  the  North-west  Fur 
Company's  traders.  Though  they  had  often  heard  of  them, 
and  had  guns,  it  is  doubtful  if  ever  the  Shoshonees  saw  a  white 
man  before  Lewis  and  Clarke's  expedition. 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  429 

The  supposition  by  Schoolcraft  and  other  Indian  writers,  that 
the  Snakes  are  one  of  the  primary  stocks  of  the  Rocky  Mount 
ain  Indians  is  a  mistake.  They  speak  the  same  language  as 
the  Comanches,  and  are  undoubtedly  an  off-shoot  of  that  tribe. 
So  says  General  Alvord,  on  the  testimony  of  an  American,  who 
had  lived  thirty  years  west  of  the  mountains ;  and  Colonel  Cady, 
who  has  been  in  the  United  States  service  since  1829,  confirmed 
the  statement,  at  Fort  Laramie,  in  1863. 

When  the  division  of  the  Snakes  and  Comanches  took  place 
is  not  so  clear,  but  probably  about  1 780.  Nothing  is  known  as 
to  the  cause  of  separation.  The  Snake  Indians  found  by  Lewis, 
lived  in  the  rugged  and  cold  country  bordering  on  the  Jefferson 
River,  and  they  were  extremely  poor  and  miserable,  being  com 
pelled  to  live  at  times  for  weeks  without  meat,  subsisting  upon 
roots  and  fish.  They  had  but  few  horses,  but  were  fierce  and 
war-like,  their  enemies  greatly  fearing  them  on  account  of  their 
hardihood  and  bravery.  Notwithstanding  their  wretched  con 
dition,  they  were  honest,  polite  to  strangers,  and  dignified  in 
their  bearing. 

In  1845,  we  find  the  Snake,  or  Shoshonee  nation,  divided 
into  the  Yam-pal  ick-ara,  or  Root  Eaters,  and  Bo-na-acks,  or 
Bannacks.  They  then,  with  the  Utahs,  inhabited  the  basin  of 
the  Great  Salt  Lake,  and  extended  as  far  south  and  west  as  the 
borders  of  California  and  New  Mexico.  Their  numbers  at  this 
date  is  not  known.  In  1850,  we  find  them  divided  into  the 
assimilated  tribes  of  Bannacks ;  Yam-palick-ara,  Root  Eaters ; 
Kerlsatik-ara,  Buffalo  Eaters;  and  Penentik-ara,  or  Honey 
Eaters.  Their  whole  number  then  was  four  thousand  and  five 
hundred  souls. 

General  Fremont,  in  his  expedition,  came  upon  the  Snakes 
first  in  the  north  latitude  42°,  and  longitude  109°.  They  had 


430  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

no  horses,  and  lived  principally  upon  roots.  In  the  topo 
graphical  maps  of  1846,  the  land  between  Red  Buttes,  in  North 
Platte  River,  and  junction  of  Big  Sandy  with  Green  River,  is 
laid  down  as  "  War  ground  of  the  Sioux  and  Snake  Indians." 
The  distance  between  the  two  points  thus  marked  was  one 
hundred  and  ninety-two  miles,  and  it  was  the  dark  and  bloody 
ground  of  the  west.  There  raged  the  terrible  contests  of  the 
great  Dakotas  and  the  fierce  Shoshonees  for  more  than  half  a 
century.  The  Snake  lands  then  began,  as  they  claimed,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Sweetwater,  but  they  seldom  ventured  so  far  east, 
even  in  time  of  war.  Their  western  boundary  was  at  the  Co 
lumbia  and  along  the  Snake  River,  or  Lewis's  Fork.  The  breadth 
of  these  lands  was  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  The  eastern 
part  consisted  of  sandy  plains  covered  with  sage  brush,  except 
the  Sweetwater  and  Wind  River  valleys,  which  were  rich  and 
tolerably  well  timbered.  The  central  moiety  lay  across  the 
summits  of  mountains ;  and  the  western  lands,  for  one  hundred 
and  forty  miles,  consisted  of  small  valleys  and  bristling  spurs 
of  volcanic  formation,  through  a  fissure  of  which  the  Bear  River 
wound,  and  then  poured  into  Salt  Lake. 

The  Shoshonees,  as  we  before  said,  extended  under  various 
names  as  far  north  as  the  sources  of  the  Missouri,  and  south  to 
New  Mexico,  Texas,  and  Arkansas.  The  overland  route,  first 
opened  by  the  Mormons  to  the  west,  lay  directly  through  the 
Snake  lands,  and,  mustering  all  their  force,  the  Shoshonees 
sought  for  years  to  drive  back  the  pale  faces.  From  the  Sweet- 
water  to  the  Great  Salt  Lake  Basin  the  road  is  marked  with 
graves.  Here,  on  this  lonely  plain,  they  killed  a  straggler, 
there,  by  the  little  stream,  they  surprised  the  encampment; 
and  yonder,  in  the  gorge,  they  pounced  down  upon  the  train 
and  murdered  men,  women,  and  children.  A  rude  pile  of 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  431 

stones,  or  a  rough  cross,  marks  where  the  bones  of  the  emi 
grants  molder  with  the  dust. 

In  1864,  we  find  the  Snakes  greatly  reduced  in  numbers 
(not  over  fifteen  hundred  in  all),  but  still  scattered  over  a  vast 
extent  of  territory.  Their  ancient  allies,  the  Bannacks,  still  lived 
with  them,  and  had  intermarried  with  the  Shoshonees,  but  spoke 
a  different  language.  Who  the  Bannacks  are,  or  where  they 
come  from,  is  not  certainly  known,  but,  most  probably,  they  are 
one  of  the  numerous  branches  of  the  Dakota  or  Sioux  family. 

At  present,  the  Bannacks  are  divided  into  two  bands,  the 
most  numerous  of  which  is  Ti-gee's.  This  chief  and  his  war 
riors  roam  in  summer  from  Soda  Springs,  Idaho,  to  Fort  Hall, 
and  in  winter  live  with  the  Snakes,  on  Wind  River,  in  Wyom 
ing.  Pivi-a-mos,  or  Big  Finger,  who  leads  the  other  band  of 
Bannacks,  lives  in  summer,  near  Virginia  City,  Montana,  and 
in  winter  they  go  to  the  Yellowstone  River.  They  have  fine 
trout  fishing  during  the  warm  months,  along  the  Snake  River, 
and  in  the  cold  months,  live  on  buffalo  and  dried  salmon. 

The  Snakes  proper  are  the  Ho-can-dik-ara,  v,r  Lake  Diggers, 
who  live  near  Salt  Lake  City,  in  Utah.  On  the  19th  of  Jan 
uary,  1863,  this  band  having  become  hostile,  General  Connor 
made  a  forced  march  with  the  Second  Regiment  of  California 
Volunteers  to  Bear  River,  where  he  surprised  them  and  almost 
annihilated  the  band.  The  Aga-dik-ara,  or  Salmon  Eating 
Snakes,  live  on  Snake  River,  and  subsist  on  salmon. 

The  largest  band  of  Snakes  is  Wash-a-kees,  which  roams  in 
summer  on  Green  River,  and  winters  on  Wind  River.  They 
eat  deer,  antelope,  and  fish  in  summer,  and  buffalo  in  winter. 
The  Salmon-  River  Snakes,  called  Took-a-rik-aras,  or  Sheep 
Eaters,  live  on  Salmon  River.  As  indicated  by  their  name, 
they  subsist  on  musmen,  or  musimen,  or  muffon,  or  wild  sheep. 
26 


432  BELDEN:    THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

It  closely  resembles  the  wild  sheep  of  Barbara,  Corsica,  and 
Sardinia,  and  is  supposed  by  Buffon  "  to  be  the  sheep  in  a  wild 
state." 

It  is  of  the  Eastern  Snakes  or  Wash-a-kees  band  I  wish 
more  particularly  to  speak.  The  chief  is  sixty  years  old,  tall 
^f  stature,  and  of  dignified  manners.  This  noble  old  Indian 
maintains  his  treaty  with  an  exactitude  that  would  be  credit 
able  to  the  most  enlightened  ruler.  Several  years  ago  he  ceased 
from  war,  and  since  then  has  done  all  he  agreed  to  perform  in 
the  treaty  with  the  whites.  In  1864,  some  of  his  young  men, 
having  become  dissatisfied,  wished  to  go  and  fight  the  whites ; 
Wash-a-kee  made  a  speech,  and  tried  to  dissuade  them. 
Among  other  things,  he  said :  "  I  am  not  only  your  chief,  but 
an  old  man,  and  your  father.  It,  therefore,  becomes  my  duty 
to  advise  you.  I  know  how  hard  it  is  for  youth  to  listen  to 
the  voice  of  old  age.  The  old  blood  creeps  with  the  snail,  but 
the  young  blood  leaps  with  the  torrent.  Once  I  was  young, 
my  sons,  and  thought  as  you  do  now.  Then  my  people  were 
strong,  and  my  voice  was  ever  for  war.  We  fought  long  years, 
and  at  length,  when  wasted  by  the  bullet  and  torn  by  disease, 
the  nation  sought  for  peace.  Go  count  the  graves  of  the  slain, 
and  you  will  learn  my  reasons  for  being  anxious  to  save  you 
who  are  still  left  me.  Behold  our  women  and  children  ;  if  you 
go  to  battle,  who  will  hunt  and  feed  them  ?  Make  no  more 
enemies,  but  save  your  valor  for  the  Sioux,  who  come  every 
year  to  fight  us.  We  said  it  in  the  council,  and  we  wrote  it 
on  the  paper,  that  we  would  war  no  more.  What  we  have 
signed  we  will  keep;  what  we  have  said  to  the  white  father 
we  would  do,  that  we  will  do.  No,  a  Shoshonee  can  not  lie. 
You  must  not  fight  the  whites ;  and  I  not  only  advise  against 
it,  but  I  forbid  it."  Seeing  the  young  men  were  determined  on 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  433 

war,  the  old  chief  covered  his  head  with  a  blanket,  that  he 
might  not  see  them  depart.  For  three  days  he  mourned  for 
them  as  for  the  dead,  and  then  arose  and  denounced  them  as 
rebels  against  their  chief. 

Soon  after  their  departure  the  rebel  band  was  caught  by  the 
whites  and  nearly  all  the  warriors  killed.  Those  who  escaped 
came  back,  and  humbly  begged  to  be  taken  into  the  tribe  again, 
but  Wash-a-kee  refused,  and  bid  them  begone,  for  rebels.  For 
a  whole  year  he  would  not  see  them ;  but,  at  last,  softened  by 
the  lapse  of  time  and  the  petitions  of  his  people,  he  said : 
"  Wash-a-kee  knows  his  duty,  but  his  heart  is  too  weak  to 
withstand  your  voices.  Tell  the  rebellious  warriors  to  come 
home."  He,  however,  deprived  the  chief  who  had  led  them, 
of  his  authority,  and  appointed  a  new  chief  over  them.  All 
this  Wash-a-kee  did  from  convictions  of  duty,  to  comply 
strictly  with  the  terms  of  his  treaty,  and,  as  he  said,  "  show 
the  white  father  that  I  would  do  what  I  had  promised  him  in 
the  council,  and  written  on  the  paper." 

The  present  reservation  of  the  Shoshonees  commences  at  the 
mouth  of  Owl  Creek,  runs  due  south  to  the  middle  of  the 
divide  between  the  waters  of  Wind  River  and  the  waters  of 
the  Sweetwater;  thence  west  along  the  divide  and  crest  of 
Wind  River  Mountains  to  the  longitude  of  the  north  fork  of 
Wind  River ;  thence  north  to  the  north  Fork,  and  up  the  same, 
thirty  miles ;  thence  east  to  the  south  bank  of  Owl  Creek,  and 
down  Owl  Creek  to  its  mouth,  to  the  point  of  beginning. 

The  belt  of  land  lying  within  these  lines  is  ninety  miles 
wide  and  about  one  hundred  and  ten  miles  long.  It  was  set 
aside  two  years  ago  by  the  Peace  Commissioners,  for  the  sole 
and  exclusive  use  of  the  Shoshonees  and  Bannack  Indians ;  but 
white  men  have  already  gone  in  and  opened  several  fine  farms. 


434  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

The  beautiful  valleys,  pure  water,  rich  soil,  excellent  timber,  and 
delightful  climate  of  the  reservation  make  it  a  particularly  de 
sirable  region  for  agriculture.  It  is,  undoubtedly,  the  best  por 
tion  of  Wyoming  Territory ;  and  the  Sweetwater  gold  mines, 
lying  on  the  edge  and  partly  in  the  reservation,  have  brought 
together  thousands  of  miners,  who  readily  buy  up  all  the  veg 
etables,  corn,  and  grain  that  can  be  raised  in  the  valleys  be 
yond.  South  Pass  City,  Atlantic  City,  and  Miner's  Delight 
are  fine  towns,  and  furnish  ready  markets  for  produce.  Miner's 
Delight  is  on  the  reservation,  and  husbandmen  are  every  year 
coming  in  and  opening  farms.  The  increasing  immigration 
will  soon  repeat  the  old  story,  and  the  white  man  will  have  the 
Indian's  land. 

Wash-a-kee,  when  told  that  the  whites  would  soon  want  his 
land,  bowed  his  head,  and  replied,  with  trembling  voice,  "  I 
feared  it,  but  I  had  hoped  it  would  not  come  in  my  day.  Look 
at  me;  I  am  old,  and  won't  trouble  the  white  father  long.  My 
people  are  rapidly  passing  away.  Every  year  I  see  them  fall 
ing  around  me.  They  will  soon  be  gone.  Once  we  owned  all 
the  mountains  and  valleys  to  the  Missouri.  See  what  a  little 
mite  we  have  left.  "We  are  weak;  we  are  poor;  we  can  not 
resist  the  wrongs  that  are  put  upon  us.  Let  the  white  father 
have  pity.  Let  him  spare  us  this  great  sorrow,  and  leave  us 
our  last  home  !  " 

And  what  reply  did  the  white  father  make  to  this  sad  and 
touching  appeal?  In  their  last  convention,  "The  People"  of 
Wyoming  "  Resolved :  That  the  proper  development  of  the  ter 
ritory  requires  that  the  lands  known  as  the  Snake  Indian  Res 
ervation,  should  be  opened  as  speedily  as  possible  for  settlement 
by  white  men." 

That  was  the  answer  sent  back  to  the  old  chief  and  his  peo- 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  435 

pie,  and  the  governor  of  Wyoming  reiterates  the  cry  of  the 
people,  in  his  message,  and  then  goes  to  Washington  to  have  the 
Indians  removed  from  his  territory.  So  it  has  been  for  more 
than  two  hundred  years:  civilization  touches  barbarism,  and 
barbarism  recoils  like  a  burnt  child  from  fire. 

The  face  of  the  white  man,  like  an  unsatiable  fiend,  presents 
itself  constantly  before  the  Indian,  and  a  voice  cries,  "  Back, 
back,  to  the  setting  sun.  I  want  your  land,  your  game,  your 
home,  even  the  graves  of  your  people ;  and  I  will  have  all ! 
all!" 

Some  nations  fight,  some  implore;  but  the  result  is  the  same — 
the  white  man  becomes  the  possessor.  So  the  beautiful  valleys 
of  the  Snake  lands  will  soon  teem  with  population;  towns 
will  spring  up,  and  the  iron  and  coal,  plaster  and  copper,  be 
dug  from  the  hills;  mills  will  be  heard  on  the  clear  streams 
of  the  Poppoagie,  church  bells  will  ring  along  the  silent  waters 
of  Wind  River,  and  poor  Wash-a-kee  and  his  children,  where 
will  they  be  ?  Dead !  Under  the  earth.  Gone  to  the  happy 
hunting-grounds  of  their  fathers — with  King  Philip  and  his 
people,  the  Pawnees,  the  Minnetarees,  the  Mohicans,  the  Man- 
dans,  and  all  who  have  gone  before. 


436  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


CHAPTER    LXV. 


THB  POWDER  RIVBE  COUNTRY  —  ITS  006UPATION  BY  TROOPS  IN  1866  —  THE 
REASONS  FOR  OCCUPYING  IT  —  CAUSE  OP  THE  INDIAN  WAR  THAT  FOLLOWED  — 
ABANDONMENT  OF  THE  BIG  HORN  TERRITORY  —  TREATMENT  OF  THE  INDIANS  — 
WHAT  SHOULD  BE  DONE  WITH  THEM  —  THE  CROW  TRIBE  —  SETTLING  INDIANS 
ON  RESERVATIONS  —  HOW  IT  HAS  WORKED  -  CIVILIZATION  OR  STARVATION  THE 
ONLY  RESULT  —  OUR  DUTY  -  CONTESTS  WITH  INDIANS  IN  1866-67  —  THE  PHIL 
KEARNEY  MASSACRE  —  THE  POWDER  RIVER  COUNTRY  DESCRIBED  —  CLIMATE, 
SOIL,  MINERALS,  AND  GAME  —  THE  GREAT  CASfON  OF  BIG  HORN  —  ROCKY 
MOUNTAIN  SHEEP  —  AGRICULTURAL  CAPACITY  OF  THE  3IG  HORN  COUNTRY. 


rilHE  Powder  River  country,  as  it  has  been  known  since 
-•-  1866,  embraces  all  that  unsettled  tract  between  the  head 
waters  of  Powder  River  on  the  south  and  the  mouth  of  the 
Big  Horn  on  the  north,  and  between  the  Big  Horn  Mountains 
and  the  waters  of  the  Missouri,  an  area  that  one  day  will  be 
divided  into  several  large  States.  This  country  was  unknown 
except  as  an  Indian  hunting-ground  until  1866,  when  an  emi 
grant  road  was  opened  through  it  to  reach  the  Montana  mines, 
but  trappers  and  hunters  had  been  familiar  with  it  for  many 
years,  and  had  found  it  one  of  the  best  fur-producing  sections  in 
the  West.  Here  the  buffalo,  bear,  elk,  deer,  antelope,  beaver, 
martin,  mink,  and  white  weasel,  were  found  in  abundance,  and 
the  pelts  of  all  these  wild  animals  were  collected  by  the  bold 
trappers  or  Indian  traders,  packed  on  rude  boats  built  in  the 
forests,  and  floated  down  the  Big  Horn,  Yellowstone,  and  Mis 
souri  Rivers  to  the  great  fur  mart  of  St.  Louis. 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  437 

Just  after  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  General  Conner  was  sent 
into  this  country  to  chastise  the  Indian  tribes,  who  had  taken 
advantage  of  the  state  of  war  and  the  absence  of  troops  from 
the  border,  to  commence  their  raids  on  the  unprotected  settle 
ments  in  Montana  and  Dikota.  Conner  had  some  Western 
regiments,  raised  on  the  frontier,  and,  though  he  possessed  a 
good  deal  of  merit  and  ability  as  a  commander,  and  pushed  his 
column  into  the  center  of  the  Indian  country,  he  could  not  do 
much  toward  punishing  or  quieting  the  hostile  Indians. 

In  1866,  General  Pope,  who  commanded  in  the  West,  ordered 
a  road  opened  through  the  Powder  River  country,  for  emigrants 
bound  to  the  Montana  mines  and  Oregon.  Troops  were  sent 
into  the  country  to  protect  the  route,  and  they  built  three  forts, 
which  have  become  historical  on  the  border,  Forts  Reno,  Phil 
Kearney,  and  C.  F.  Smith,  all  named  after  distinguished  officers 
of  the  Union  army,  who  lost  their  lives  during  the  war  of  the 
rebellion.  Reno  was  built  on  Powder  River,  Phil  Kearney  on 
the  Piney,  and  C.  F.  Smith  on  the  Big  Horn. 

The  building  of  these  forts  in  the  Indian  country  gave  great 
offense  to  the  tribes  inhabiting  it,  both  hostile  and  friendly,  be 
cause  the  Government  took  possession  of  the  country  without 
the  consent  of  the  Indians,  and  in  violation  of  the  common,  but 
pernicious  system,  of  making  treaties  before  going  on  to  their 
lands.  After  two  years  of  active  war  with  these  Indians,  during 
which  one  regiment  of  the  army  lost  one  hundred  and  fifteen 
men  and  three  officers  killed,  in  various  combats,  the  Govern 
ment  decided,  upon  the  recommendation  of  a  commission  of 
distinguished  officers  and  citizens,  to  restore  this  territory  to  the 
Indians  for  a  hunting-ground,  withdrawing  the  troops,  aban 
doning  the  forts,  and  giving  up  to  the  caprices  of  a  savage  race 
a  vast  and  fertile  region,  which  had  once  been  occupied  in  the 


438  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

interests  of  civilization,  and  for  which  many  scores  of  valuable 
lives  had  been  sacrificed.  The  policy  of  surrendering  this  ter 
ritory  to  the  Indians,  after  occupying  it  with  a  military  force 
for  years,  has  often  been  questioned,  and  the  discussion  of  this 
matter  has  produced  many  sharp  Criticisms  on  the  conduct  of 
officials  who  advised  and  secured  the  abandonment  of  a  rich, 
fertile,  and  beautiful  country  to  a  few  thousand  savages,  who 
can  make  no  use  of  it  but  to  chase  the  lessening  herds  of  buffalo 
and  deer,  and  fit  out  from  distant  camps  their  yearly  raids  on 
the  peaceful  settlements  of  border  States  and  Territories. 

In  the  summer  of  1868,  the  troops  and  settlers  who  were  in 
the  Powder  River  country,  left  it  for  the  lower  settlements,  and 
since  then  nothing  has  been  heard  of  it,  except  from  half-breeds 
or  friendly  Indians.  It  is  known  that  the  Indians  burned  the 
forts  almost  as  soon  as  they  were  abandoned,  and  no  white  men 
would  be  safe  there  now,  unless  in  sufficient  strength  to  defy 
the  Indians. 

Those  people  who  are  interested  in  the  West  will  naturally 
wonder  that  the  Government  should  withdraw  its  outposts,  built 
for  the  protection  of  the  border,  and  restore  to  the  savage  tribes 
what  had  been  claimed  for  civilization,  and  it  is  a  question  that 
interests  all  of  us :  how  long  fifteen  or  twenty  thousand  Indians, 
less  than  the  population  of  a  farming  county,  shall  hold  for 
their  exclusive  use  a  valuable  country  as  large  as  three  or  four 
States  the  size  of  Illinois  ? 

So  long  as  the  Indians  live  by  hunting  alone,  they  will  re 
quire  a  large  country  to  subsist  them  of  course,  and  just  so  long 
they  will  be  vagabonds,  living  a  precarious  life,  often  hungry, 
and  always  poor,  their  hand  against  every  man,  and  every  man's 
hand  (in  the  civilized  sense)  against  them. 

It  is  time  the  Government  adopted  a  policy  that  should  be 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  439 

beneficial  to  the  Indians,  instead  of  pursuing  the  old  plan  of 
taking  their  lands  by  treaty,  in  exchange  for  a  few  trinkets,  and 
then  leaving  them  to  decay  by  the  inevitable  results  of  vice 
and  poverty. 

The  contest  between  civilization  and  savage  superstition  is 
decided,  and  it  is  a  problem  for  this  generation  to  solve,  whether 
the  remnants  of  the  savage  tribes  can  be  saved,  and  reduced  to 
a  state  of  self-supporting  peace.  Just  how  this  can  be  done  it 
is  difficult  to  say,  but  it  has  been  done  with  some  tribes,  and 
undoubtedly  can  be  done  with  others.  A  few  devoted  and  self- 
sacrificing  men  are  now  making  efforts  among  Indians  on  the 
upper  Missouri,  and  meeting  with  a  success  which  warrants  the 
belief  that  all  tribes  can,  by  proper  effort,  be  turned  gradually 
from  their  wild  habits  of  roving,  and  living  from  day  to  day, 
to  settle  on  reservations  and  live  as  herders  and  farmers. 

Until  we  adopt  the  policy  of  putting  the  Indians  upon  small 
reservations  and  compelling  them  to  stay  there,  we  shall  have 
constant  trouble  with  them,  and  they  will  all  the  time  be  grow 
ing  poorer  in  men  and  the  means  of  living,  for  it  is  well  known 
that  large  game  is  growing  scarce  every  year,  and  before  an 
other  generation  comes  on  the  ground,  the  buffalo,  the  Indian's 
meat  and  bread,  will  have  become  as  scarce  on  the  Powder,  the 
Big  Horn,  and  the  Yellowstone,  as  it  is  now  on  the  Platte. 

The  Indians  understand  this,  and  it  is  no  wonder  they  are 
determined  to  fight  for  the  Powder  Biver  country,  for  it  fur 
nishes  the  only  valuable  hunting-ground  in  the  North,  and  they 
see  no  way  but  to  keep  the  whites  out  of  it,  or  starve. 

Red  Cloud,  chief  of  the  Sioux,  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  in 
telligent  Indians  in  the  country,  lately  said,  to  an  officer  of  the 
army,  that  he  knew  the  white  men  could  wipe  out  his  tribe,  but 
he  was  fighting  for  his  home ;  it  was  a  question  of  starving  or 


440  BELDEN  :    THE    WHITE   CHIEF. 

being  killed,  and  of  the  two  he  had  rather  be  killed.  This  is 
Indian  philosophy,  and  from  his  stand-point  it  is  right ;  but 
should  not  the  civilization  of  the  nineteenth  century  find  a 
better  solution  to  the  question  than  starvation  and  the  destruc 
tion  of  a  race  ? 

Civilization  brings  its  benefits  and  its  pleasures,  but  it  brings 
its  duties  and  penalties  also,  and  the  verdict  of  impartial  his 
tory,  the  verdict  of  the  higher  law,  in  which  we  all  believe,  and 
to  which  we  defer,  will  condemn  us,  unless  we  save  and  hand 
down  to  posterity  at  least  a  remnant  of  the  race  which  we  have 
driven  across  the  continent,  and  to  whom  our  example  has  been 
evil  and  not  good  for  over  two  hundred  years. 

The  Indian  tribes  inhabiting  the  Powder  River  country  are 
the  Sioux,  Crows,  and  small  bands  of  Cheyennes  and  Arrapa- 
hoes.  This  country  properly  belongs  to  the  Crows,  or  rather 
the  western  half  of  it,  and  is  known  in  the  Indian  tongue  as 
Absaraka,  "  The  Home  of  the  Crows."  The  Sioux,  however, 
have  driven  the  Crows  from  nearly  all  this  country,  by  their 
superior  numbers,  and  now  claim  it  as  theirs  by  right  of  con 
quest.  The  principle  of  meum  and  tuum  is  as  little  regarded 
among  Indian  nations  as  among  white,  and  they  rule  very 
much  as  we  do,  the  stronger  taking  about  what  it  wants. 

The  Sioux  are  the  strongest  tribe  in  the  North,  and  probably 
the  strongest  in  the  whole  country.  The  tribe  is  made  up  of 
eight  different  bands,  under  different  chiefs.  Of  these  the  Ogal- 
lalas,  Minneconjoes,  and  Unkpapas  are  hostile,  while  the  Brule, 
Yankton,  Santee,  Blackfeet,  and  Saus-arcs  bands  are  friendly 
in  the  main,  though  they  often  send  out  war  parties  to  attack 
the  settlements  and  emigrants.  The  Yankton  and  Santee  bands 
are  probably  as  friendly  to  the  whites  as  any  Indians  in  the 
country.  They  are  settled  on  reservations  on  the  upper  Mis- 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  441 

souri,  and  have  commenced  planting  crops  and  raising  stock  in 
a  civilized  way.  The  Government  furnishes  them  agents,  who 
employ  farmers  and  mechanics  to  instruct  them  in  the  various 
branches  of  industry,  and  two  or  three  devoted  men  are  living 
with  them  as  missionaries,  and  are  gaining  a  good  deal  of  influ 
ence  among  them,  even  inducing  them  to  build  school-houses 
and  churches. 

This  effort  among  the  Sioux  may  lead  to  a  solution  of  the 
Indian  difficulty,  and  it  is  certain  it  is  leading  in  the  only 
right  direction.  The  men  who  are  devoting  themselves  to  it 
should  be  sustained,  and  if  they  succeed  they  should  be  hon 
ored  for  the  signal  service  rendered  two  races. 

The  hostile  Sioux  are  led  by  chiefs  of  ability  and  determina 
tion.  Some  of  them  are  very  capable  men,  and  fully  posted 
on  the  Indian  situation  as  affecting  them  and  us,  and  it  will 
be  difficult  to  control  them  unless  we  can  convince  the  think 
ing  men  of  the  tribe  that  we  are  sincere  in  our  plans  for  their 
future.  The  Indian  is  naturally  suspicious,  but  he  is  now  des 
perate  and  revengeful,  because  he  feels  his  poverty  and  sees  no 
hope  of  better  times. 

The  northern  Cheyennes,  a  small  band  split  off  from  the 
southern  tribe,  are  allies  of  the  Sioux,  and  have  joined  them  in 
all  their  operations  against  us.  The  northern  Arrapahocs  were 
allies  of  the  Sioux  until  1868,  when  they  separated  from  them, 
and  have  since  been  at  peace  with  the  whites.  1866-67  were 
active  years  in  the  Powder  Kiver  country — the  Sioux,  Chey 
ennes,  and  Arrapahoes  were  on  the  war-path  continually,  deter 
mined  to  drive  the  white  men  out  of  the  country,  and  number 
less  combats  ensued,  involving  a  large  loss  of  life  on  both  sides. 

The  odds  in  numbers  were  always  on  the  side  of  the  In 
dians,  but  the  troops  generally  came  off  victorious,  owing  to 

38 


442  BELDEN  :   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

superior  arms  and  discipline.  The  Indians  could  nurabei 
about  2,500  warriors  at  this  time,  and  there  were,  never  more 
than  700  troops  employed  against  them.  The  engagement* 
were  always  between  detachments  of  troops,  one  or  two  com 
panies  or  less,  and  bodies  of  Indians  numbering  from  one  hun 
dred  to  two  thousand. 

The  most  important  engagement  in  the  Powder  River  coun 
try,  the  only  one  in  which  the  Indians  were  successful  against 
an  organized  force,  was  what  is  known  as  the  Phil  Kearney 
massacre,  fought  on  the  21st  of  December,  1866,  between  a  de 
tachment  of  ninety-one  men  of  the  Eighteenth  and  Twenty- 
seventh  Infantry  and  Second  Cavalry,  and  2,000  Sioux,  Chey- 
ennes,  and  Arrapahoes.  The  troops  were  commanded  by 
Colonel  Fetterman,  a  gallant  man,  and  most  excellent  officer, 
who  had  served  with  distinction  during  the  war,  and  the  In 
dians  were  led  by  Red  Leaf,  Iron-clad,  and  other  noted  chiefs. 
This  fight  shows  a  good  example  of  Indian  tactics  and  cunning. 
The  garrison  of  Fort  Phil  Kearney  consisted  at  this  date  of 
five  companies  of  infantry  and  one  of  cavalry,  commanded  by 
Colonel  Carrington.  The  Indians  knew  that  trains  left  the 
fort  daily  for  the  mountains,  to  procure  timber  and  wood,  and 
that  they  had  a  small  guard  to  escort  them.  So,  collecting  their 
forces,  they  reached  the  vicinity  of  the  fort  the  day  previous  to 
the  attack,  and  concealed  their  men  behind  the  mountains,  four 
or  five  miles  distant.  On  the  morning  of  the  21st  December 
the  train  went  out  as  usual,  and,  before  it  was  out  of  sight  of 
the  fort,  was  attacked  by  fifly  Indians.  The  attack  was  soon 
signaled  to  the  fort  by  the  picket  on  a  neighboring  height, 
and  a  detachment  of  ninety-one  men,  under  Colonel  Fet 
terman,  were  sent  out  to  drive  off  the  Indians  and  relieve  the 
train. 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  443 

Fetterman,  instead  of  moving  directly  for  the  train,  took  a 
line  to  get  in  rear  of  the  Indians,  and  cut  off  their  retreat ;  see 
ing  this,  the  Indians  fell  back,  skirmishing  with  the  troops,  and 
were  followed  over  the  hills,  being  pressed  sharply  by  Fetter- 
man,  until  about  five  miles  from  the  fort,  when  he  found  his 
command  suddenly  beset  by  about  two  thousand  savages,  part 
mounted  and  part  on  foot,  and  all  eager  to  fight.  Fetterman 's 
forre  was  probably  scattered  at  the  moment  the  ambush  was 
discovered,  and  many  of  his  men  fell  at  the  first  shock,  but  he 
drew  back  his  party,  and  after  retreating  a  mile,  closely  followed, 
he  made  a  stand  on  the  top  of  a  high  ridge,  determined  to  fight 
it  out ;  and  here,  after  two  hours  of  life-and-death  struggle,  the 
whole  party  of  ninety-one  men  and  three  officers  were  killed, 
not  even  a  wounded  man  escaping  to  tell  the  story. 

All  that  is  known  of  the  fight,  after  Fetterman's  party  dis 
appeared  from  the  sight  of  their  friends  at  the  fort,  is  gleaned 
from  the  reports  of  the  Indians,  coming  to  us  through  half- 
breeds  on  the  frontier,  and  from  the  position  of  the  dead  bodies 
when  found  after  the  fight. 

The  faults  which  led  to  the  sacrifice  of  ninety-four  men,  well 
armed  and  well  commanded,  were  purely  military,  and  should 
not  be  discussed  here ;  but  they  were  well  understood,  and  were 
not  repeated.  The  Indians  frequently  attacked  trains  and  de 
tached  parties  of  troops  in  186.7,  but  were  always  defeated,  a 
small  company  on  two  occasions  defeating  seven  and  eight  hun 
dred  Indians. 

The  losses  which  the  Indians  suffered  in  the  Phil  Kearney 
fight,  and  in  other  affairs  with  the  troops,  have  never  been 
known,  as  they  always  carry  off  the  bodies  of  the  dead  or  wound 
ed  as  soon  as  they  fall,  holding  it  greater  misfortune  to  lose 
the  body  of  one  of  their  men  than  to  lose  his  life,  and  they  will 


444  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

often  sacrifice  two  or  three  in  their  efforts  to  carry  off  one  who 
has  fallen. 

The  Crows  are  the  peaceful  Indians  of  the  Powder  River 
country,  and  are  old  and  firm  friends  of  the  white  man.  They 
are  a  fine  set  of  people,  and  the  best  specimens  of  the  Indian 
race  to  be  found.  They  are  superior  to  the  Sioux  in  courage 
and  ability,  and  often  fight  them  successfully  two  to  one.  If 
the  Crows  were  enlisted  in  our  cause,  armed,  and  sent  against 
the  Sioux,  they  would  soon  take  the  fight  off  our  hands,  and 
either  subdue  the  Sioux  or  drive  them  out  of  the  country. 

The  Government  has  adopted  the  policy  of  using  friendly 
Indians  to  fight  hostile  ones,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Pawnees,  and 
they  could  not  do  a  better  thing,  if  hostilities  are  to  continue, 
than  to  arm  the  Crows  and  other  friendly  tribes  to  settle  the 
matter  with  the  Sioux  and  others,  who  will  not  be  quiet  until 
they  are  soundly  whipped. 

The  Powder  River  country  is  destined  to  be  the  home  of  a 
large  and  rich  population  at  no  distant  day.  It  possesses  all 
the  elements  of  wealth,  a  fine  soil  and  good  climate,  coal  in 
abundance,  limestone,  and  superior  building  stone,  and  undoubt 
edly  great  mineral  wealth;  iron  is  found  in  many  places,  and 
gold  has  been  discovered  by  chance  prospectors,  in  quantities  to 
warrant  the  belief  that  the  Big  Horn  Mountains  and  the  Black 
Hills  will  prove  to  be  very  rich  in  precious  metals,  when  they 
can  be  safely  and  thoroughly  explored.  Abundant  streams  of 
pure  water  run  through  the  country,  and  they  will  furnish  more 
water  power  than  all  the  streams  of  New  England,  when  the 
time  comes  to  use  them. 

The  climate  of  the  Powder  River  country  is  much  finer  than 
would  be  supposed  from  the  latitude.  From  43°  to  45°  it  is 
about  like  the  climate  on  the  line  of  the  Pacific  Railroad,  but 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  445 

from  45°  to  46°  it  is  much  milder,  being  influenced  by  almost 
constant  westerly  winds,  which  bring  to  it  the  soft  airs  of  the 
Pacific.  The  Indians  call  this  section  "  Medicine  Ground/* 
because  it  is  so  pleasant  and  healthful.  Snow  falls  in  small 
quantities,  and  most  of  the  winter  the  weather  is  delighful  for 
out-of-door  life. 

The  average  temperature  on  the  Big  Horn  is  about  that  of 
the  country  bordering  the  Ohio.  Cattle  and  all  kinds  of  stock 
could  live  out  all  winter  without  shelter,  and  with  no  food  but 
what  they  pick  up;  the  grass,  in  this  pure  air,  dies  on  the 
ground  without  losing  its  nutriment,  and  is  just  as  good  for 
food  as  that  cut  and  cured  in  the  usual  way. 

For  stock  raising,  no  country  could  be  finer  than  this,  for  the 
conditions  are  such  as  to  insure  the  minimum  of  expense  and 
labor,  and  the  fine  air  and  water  insures  health  to  the  herds. 
This  country,  including  and  bordering  the  Big  Horn  Mountains, 
is  particularly  fitted  for  sheep  raising.  Sheep  like  high  land 
and  dry  air,  and  these,  with  the  fine  rich  grasses  of  the  mount 
ain  slopes,  would  produce  fleeces  not  excelled  in  any  part  of  the 
world.  Sheep  husbandry  is  in  its  infancy  with  us,  but  the  time 
will  come  when  the  Big  Horn  country  will  be  as  famous  for  its 
flocks  and  wool  as  any  parts  of  the  old  world,  and  perhaps  as 
famous  for  its  looms  and  mills  too. 

Game  is  more  abundant  on  the  Powder  River  than  in  any 
part  of  our  possessions.  Here  the  buffalo  range  in  herds  of 
twenty  to  fifty  thousand  together,  sometimes  blackening  the 
country  for  miles  with  their  huge  bodies;  but,  though  they  are 
found  in  large  masses,  still  all  experience  of  border  men  shows 
that  they  are  lessening  in  numbers,  and  the  sections  in  which 
large  herds  are  found  are  becoming  narrower  every  year.  The 
tribes  in  the  North  subsist  almost  entirely  on  buffalo  meat,  and 


446  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

they  probably  kill  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  buffalo  every 
year. 

As  they  kill  cows  mainly,  on  account  of  the  better  quality  of 
meat,  they  reduce  the  herds  much  faster  than  is  needful,  with 
proper  management.  The  elk,  the  finest  of  the  large  game,  is 
found  in  large  numbers,  often  one  or  two  thousand  in  a  band. 
Black-tail  and  white-tail  deer,  antelope ;  black,  cinnamon,  and 
grizzly  bear;  beaver,  otter,  and  all  the  fur-producing  animals, 
are  very  abundant.  The  streams  are  full  of  excellent  salmon, 
trout,  catfish,  and  bass ;  and  of  the  feathered  game,  geese, 
brant,  ducks,  and  grouse  are  as  plentiful  as  any  sportsman 
could  wish. 

Wild  fruits,  such  as  plums,  currants,  gooseberries,  raspberries, 
buffalo  berries,  and  soervice  berries,  grow  almost  every- where, 
and  are  excellent.  The  Indians  make  a  good  deal  of  use  of 
them  for  food,  drying  large  quantities,  and  mixing  them  with 
the  marrow  of  buffalo  bones,  for  winter  use ;  the  dried  berries 
are  sometimes  pounded  up  with  buffalo  meat  and  fat,  making 
a  sort  of  "pemican/'  which  is  packed  in  skins,  and  called 
towro. 

The  most  singular  of  all  the  wild  animals  in  the  country  is 
the  mountain  sheep,  which  lives  in  the  mountain  ranges,  the 
higher  and  wilder  the  better,  and  which  are  seldom  seen  in  the 
low  country.  The  mountain  sheep,  allusion  to  which  is 
made  elsewhere,  is  about  the  size  of  the  common  deer, 
weighing  from  one  to  two  hundred  pounds;  the  flesh  is 
good,  and  very  much  like  venison,  having  no  flavor  of  mut 
ton  ;  the  hair  is  coarse,  like  the  antelope,  and  perfectly  straight ; 
the  only  resemblance  to  sheep  is  in  the  horns ;  these  greatly 
eclipse  any  thing  seen  in  domestic  flocks,  being  long,  spiral,  and 
giving  the  head  a  massive  and  imposing  look.  It  is  difficult  to 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  447 

see  what  the  animal  was  furnished  such  head-gear  for,  unless, 
as  the  hunters  say,  he  uses  them  to  break  his  fall  when  taking 
dangerous  leaps,  striking  on  his  horns  instead  of  his  feet; 
whether  this  is  so  or  not,  he  is  a  great  leaper,  and  difficult  to 
kill  on  account  of  his  inaccessible  haunts,  and  his  boldness  in 
eluding  pursuit.  If  these  animals  could  be  caught  and  tamed, 
they  would  be  great  curiosities  in  our  parks ;  but  we  have  never 
heard  of  their  being  captured  while  young,  and  there  are  few 
opportunities  to  secure  living  specimens.* 

One  of  the  greatest  natural  curiosities  on  the  continent  is  the 
Big  Horn  caflon,  where  the  Big  Horn  River  breaks  through 
the  mountains,  and  when  it  is  known,  it  will  rival  the  famous 
cafion  of  the  Colorado.  It  is  about  sixty  miles  long,  as  nearly 
as  can  be  ascertained  from  those  who  have  seen  most  of  it, 
but  it  is  not  likely  that  any  one  has  seen  its  whole  length 
yet. 

Old  Bridger,  the  trapper  and  guide,  has  been  through  a  part  of 
it  in  a  boat,  and  tells  many  marvelous  stories  of  its  wonders  and 
dangers ;  and  in  1867,  Mackenzie,  an  adventurous  frontiersman, 
saw  a  good  deal  of  it,  in  attempting  to  run  timber  through  for 
the  use  of  the  fort  on  the  Big  Horn,  but  he  came  to  grief,  losing 
his  timber,  which  lodged  on  rocks,  and  wrecking  himself  and 
companions,  with  a  loss  of  every  thing  but  their  arms.  The 
canon  is  more  than  half  a  mile  high  in  many  places,  and 
varies  in  width,  like  all  breaks  in  the  mountains,  being  nar 
row  in  places,  and  in  others  very  wide.  It  is  one  of  the 

*  A  kid  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  sheep  was  caught,  about  a  year  ago,  on 
the  Platte  River,  and  brought  into  Fort  Steele,  Wyoming  Territory.  Every 
care  was  taken  of  the  animal,  and  efforts  made  to  raise  it,  but  it  died, 
though  it  became  quite  tame  and  would  follow  the  soldiers  all  around  the 
fort.— ED. 

27 


448  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

most  picturesque  spots  imaginable ;  its  perfect  seclusion  gives 
it  an  air  of  mystery,  and  the  slight  sense  of  awe  which  creeps 
over  one,  in  threading  its  wild  paths,  is  not  lessened  by  the 
sight  of  an  occasional  grizzly. 

The  chief  beauty  of  the  cafion  is  in  the  multiform  shapes 
taken  by  rock,  and  tree,  and  foliage;  the  rocks  take  every 
shape  imaginable :  turrets,  spires,  minarets,  towers,  and  nat 
ural  bridges.  The  timber  covers  the  slopes  sometimes  from 
the  bank  of  the  river  to  where  the  top  breaks  abruptly 
against  the  sky,  and  beautiful  streams  twine  themselves 
around  the  rude  masses  of  rock,  until  one  can  often  fancy  he 
sees  the  old  ruins  of  an  abbey,  with  an  English  ivy  creeping 
over  it. 

Whatever  there  Is  of  beauty  in  the  wildest  scenes  of  nature, 
in  the  massive  grandeur  of  rock,  in  the  grace  of  vines  and 
foliage,  and  the  charm  of  running  water,  is  furnished  by  this 
lonely  cafion.  And  one  of  these  days,  when  the  Yellowstone 
and  Big  Horn  are  navigated  by  steamers,  the  traveler  will 
seek  this  spot  in  pursuit  of  health  and  pleasure,  as  he  now 
does  Niagara  and  the  Alps. 

The  agricultural  value  of  the  Big  Horn  country  will  be 
as  great  as  Minnesota,  or  any  of  the  Northern  States.  All 
the  cereals  will  grow  there  without  doubt.  The  valleys  are 
fertile  and  well  watered,  and  much  of  the  high  land  will 
raise  the  small  grains. 

The  valley  of  the  Powder  Biver  is  the  poorest  country  in 
this  section,  but  the  valleys  of  Clear  Fork,  Piney,  Goose, 
Wolf,  Trout,  Tongue,  Little  Horn,  and  Big  Horn,  are  as 
fine  as  men  need  to  live  in,  and  much  better  land  than  a 
majority  of  farmers  cultivate  in  the  East. 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  449 


CHAPTER   LXYI. 

TEE  LANDS  WEST  OF  POWDER  RIVER  AND  NORTH  OF  THE  SNAKE  LANDS — THE 
CLIMATE  AND  GRAZING  IN  MONTANA — INDIANS  AND  HUNTING  GROUNDS — AH 
INDIAN  BATTLE — THE  CHIEF'S  DAUGHTER — INDIAN  CAMPS  ALONG  BOWLDER 
CREEK — HOW  SAVAGES  AMUSE  THEMSELVES — THE  CROW  NATION — A  TRIBE  OP 
GOURMANDS  AND  BEGGARS — PRIDE  AND  IGNORANCE  OF  THE  SAVAGES — THB 
ROADS  IN  MONTANA — SOME  REMARKS  ON  TRADE,  STREAMS  AND  FORTS — TROUT 

FISHING NO     HARD    WOOD     BEYOND     THE     ROCKY    MOUNTAINS  —  MONTANA 

MOUNTAINS GOLD  FIELDS THEIR  YIELD MINES  AND  MINING — NEW  DIS 
COVERIES CHARACTERISTIC  LETTERS — EXPENSIVE  LIVING — ISOLATED  POSI 
TION  OF  MONTANA — HER  FUTURE  FARMING  LANDS COAL  FIELDS — THB  IN 
HABITANTS  OF  MONTANA — THEIR  PECULIARITIES  AND  HABITS 

JUST  west  of  the  Powder  River  country,  and  north  of  the 
Snake  lands  is  a  very  rich  territory  called  Montana.  The 
climate  is  delightful  during  the  summer  months,  it  not  being 
too  warm,  and  at  night  a  person  finds  it  necessary  to  sleep 
under  one  or  more  blankets.  Much  of  the  time  the  atmosphere 
is  hazy,  not  unlike  an  Indian  summer  in  the  Eastern  States. 
During  the  winter  the  weather  is  extremely  cold,  and  people 
easily  get  frostbitten  by  exposure.  It  is  never  very  windy,  but 
quiet,  still,  cold  weather,  which  is  sometimes  exceedingly 
pleasant. 

The  grazing  can  not  be  excelled  in  any  country,  and  much 
of  the  stock  runs  out  all  the  winter,  though  there  is  by  no 
means  any  lack  of  snow.  In  spring-time  the  stock  is  fat,  and 

it  is  fair  to  say  that  no  better  beef  can  be  found.     Horses  and 

39 


450  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

cattle  thrive,  and  look  fine  and  sleek.  There  is  plenty  of  tim 
ber  on  the  mountain  sides  and  in  the  cafions,  and  a  thick  under 
growth  of  bushes  in  which  there  is  an  abundance  of  berries. 
In  such  a  country  game  must  abound,  and  here  are  found  the 
moose,  elk,  buffalo,  deer,  antelope,  cinnamon  or  black  bears, 
badgers,  beavers,  martins,  mink,  and  a  variety  of  other  wild 
animals. 

The  Upper  Crow  Indians,  who  are  friendly,  live  in  the 
middle  of  the  territory,  in  the  unsettled  portion,  and  seem  to 
get  along  pretty  well  in  their  wild  and  savage  way.  Their 
reservation  is  on  the  Yellowstone  River,  in  a  fine  game  coun 
try  ;  and  a  small,  compact  fort  for  the  use  of  the  agent  has 
been  built  there.  Here  the  Indians  live,  and  hence  they  make 
their  way  to  the  buffalo  grounds,  and  return  laden  with  dried 
meat  and  robes. 

In  November,  1869,  there  were  over  three  thousand  five 
hundred  Mountain  Crows  at  the  agency  for  the  purpose  of 
receiving  the  annuities  given  to  them  by  the  Government. 
The  Crows  had  had  a  fight  with  the  Cheyennes,  in  the  country 
of  the  Sioux,  in  which  the  Crows  were  victorious.  They  killed 
six  adult  Cheyennes  and  captured  four  young  ones.  These  they 
tortured  in  the  most  barbarous  manner,  cutting  off  their  hands, 
then  their  feet,  and  finally  killing  them.  One  Crow  warrior 
was  badly  wounded,  and  died  afterward.  The  daughter  of 
"Iron  Bull,"  a  principal  chief,  also  died  at  the  agency,  and 
her  body  was  wrapped  in  furs  and  placed  upon  a  scaffold  in 
great  pomp.  Iron  Bull  burnt  his  lodge,  destroyed  his  property, 
and  killed  his  horses  as  a  sign  of  mourning. 

Over  her  and  the  warrior  who  died  of  his  wounds,  the  camp 
was  in  a  general  state  of  mourning,  black  paint  was  daubed  on 
many  hideous  faces,  gashes  being  cut  with  knives,  and  hair  torn 


BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  451 

out  by  the  handful.  The  Indians  were  mostly  encamped  on 
Bowlder  Creek,  near  its  confluence  with  the  Yellowstone,  and 
a  great  many  River  Crows  were  encamped  below.  After  con 
siderable  difficulty  about  the  character  of  the  goods,  the  annui 
ties  were  distributed. 

The  Crows  had  a  very  successful  fall  hunt,  and  it  was  estima 
ted  that  there  were  over  six  thousand  buffalo  robes  in  their 
camp,  which  was  also  bountifully  stocked  with  buffalo  meat. 
The  buffalo  at  that  time  were  ranging  within  twenty-five  miles 
of  the  agency,  and  after  receiving  their  goods  many  of  the 
Indians  returned  to  the  hunting-grounds.  Tindoy's  band  of 
Bannock  Indians  were  out  hunting  during  the  whole  fall  with 
the  Crows,  and  brought  back  many  robes  and  a  good  supply  of 
meat. 

The  lodges  of  the  Crows  along  the  bank  of  Bowlder  Creek 
were  made  of  dressed  buffalo  skins,  and  presented  a  picturesque 
appearance,  half  hidden  as  they  were  amid  the  bushes  and  trees. 
It  was  late  in  the  fall,  and  the  leaves  had  fallen,  but  the  gray 
hues  were  softened,  and  the  russet  of  the  grass  in  the  creek 
bottoms  was  enlivened  by  the  presence  of  hundreds,  perhaps 
thousands,  of  Indian  ponies.  Night  was  made  hideous  by  the 
singing  of  the  Indian  songs  and  the  howling  of  Indian  dogs. 
In  the  daytime  there  was  a  grand  display  of  Indian  firing  by 
the  young  dandies,  and  scalp  dances  over  the  scalps  of  the  un 
fortunate  Cheyennes  who  had  been  killed. 

The  Crows  have  always  been  friendly  to  the  whites,  with 
perhaps  a  few  exceptions.  They  are  arrant  thieves,  and  on 
more  than  one  occasion  have  been  accused  of  cowardice,  though 
that  is  not  true  of  them.  A  more  persistent  nation  of  beggars, 
however,  does  not  exist  upon  earth.  An  Indian  always  expects 
a  present  of  some  kind,  but  it  has  been  remarked  that  few,  if 


452  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

any,  Indians  make  presents  in  return.  "  Get  all  you  can  and 
keep  all  you  get "  is  the  maxim  of  the  Aborigines.  One  of 
them  never  was  known  to  give  away  any  thing  that  was  not 
absolutely  worthless.  A  squaw  of  the  Crow  tribe,  or  as  they 
call  themselves  Absarcis,  never  visits  a  white  man's  house 
without  saying  in  the  most  pitiful  and  drawling  tones,  "Awush- 
me ;  Awush-me ;  "  meaning,  "  I  am  hungry ;  I  am  hungry ;  " 
even  though  she  has  just  eaten  enough  food  to  kill  a  white 
woman  outright.  A  more  sorrowful  and  melancholy  cadence 
can  not  be  given  to  any  language  than  that  given  by  the  Crows 
to  their  own.  I  had  the  honor  to  become  acquainted  with 
some  of  the  big-nosed  and  nobby-complexioned  leaders  of  this 
nation  of  Indians,  among  whom  I  recollect  with  peculiar  feel 
ings  the  chiefs  Iron  Bull,  Black  Foot,  Show-his-face,  Old  Wolf, 
The  Coat,  Black  Bird,  and  several  others  whose  distinguished 
names  do  not  now  occur  to  me.  They  have  an  immense  idea 
of  their  own  importance,  "  and  feel  so  big,"  as  the  Californians 
say,  "  that  a  very  large  overcoat  would  only  make  for  them  a 
moderate-sized  vest."  Their  highest  delight  is  to  smoke  kee- 
nick — kee-nick  from  the  bowl  of  a  red  pipe  with  a  long  stem. 
They  are  excessively  dignified  and  correspondingly  ignorant. 

There  are  some  excellent  roads  in  the  territory  of  Montana. 
The  one  leading  from  Virginia  City  to  Helena,  and  thence  to 
Fort  Ben  ton,  is  a  most  excellent  thoroughfare.  A  road  was 
made  in  the  summer  of  1869  from  Borzeman  across  the  coun 
try  to  the  mouth  of  the  Muscleshell,  and  thence  back  to  Helena. 
It  was  thought  that  all  freight  would  be  brought  up  to  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  by  boats  on  the  Missouri  River,  and 
freighted  across  the  country  to  such  points  as  it  might  be  des 
tined  for,  but  this  has  been  superseded  by  the  railroad ;  and 
now,  unless  the  cost  of  carriage  is  too  high,  the  freighting  will 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  453 

all  be  done  that  way,  and  from  Corinne  it  will  be  carried  up 
into  the  territory.  It  may  cost  somewhat  more  this  way, 
but  it  is  more  expeditious,  and  on  the  whole  far  more  satis 
factory. 

Montana  has  within  her  borders  several  rivers,  the  largest  of 
which  are  the  Missouri,  Clark's  Fork  of  the  Columbia,  and  the 
Yellowstone.  The  former  is  navigable  as  far  as  Fort  Ben  ton, 
but  this  is  only  for  an  exceedingly  limited  portion  of  the  year, 
and  ordinarily  boats  can  make  but  one  trip  from  St.  Louis  to 
Fort  Benton  and  back  again  during  the  season.  In  some  ex 
ceptional  cases,  however,  two  trips  have  been  made.  Clark's 
Fork  is  on  the  west  side  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  is  formed 
by  the  junction  of  the  Bitter  Root  and  Flat  Head  Rivers,  the 
Bitter  Root  being  itself  formed  by  the  junction  of  the  Big 
Blackfoot,  Missoula,  and  the  Hellgate  Rivers.  The  whole  in 
terior  of  Montana  is  remarkably  well  watered,  and  there  are 
gold  placers  on  many  of  the  creeks,  the  names  of  which  it  would 
be  useless  to  give,  as  it  would  only  lead  to  confusion  in  obtain 
ing  a  knowledge  of  the  country.  The  Missouri  is  formed  by 
the  junction  of  the  "Three  Forks,"  called  respectively  the 
Jefferson,  the  Madison,  and  the  Gallatin  Rivers,  so  named  by 
Lewis  and  Clarke. 

These  are  all  noble  and  beautiful  streams,  lined  with  fine 
growths  of  timber,  and  abounding  in  trout.  In  the  Madison 
are  found  the  "  half  trout/'  a  peculiar  kind  of  a  fish,  which  has 
specks  and  scales,  being  half  trout  and  half  whitefish.  The 
timber  and  underbrush  along  these  streams  is  a  favorite  resort 
for  Indians  who  are  now  friendly.  It  is  somewhat  singular 
that  no  hard  wood,  such  as  hickory  and  maple,  is  found  west 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

There  are  several  ranges  of  mountains,  as  the  name  of  the 


454  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

territory  indicates,  and  long  before  the  whites  came  it  was 
known  to  the  Snake  or  Shoshonee  Indians  as  "  To-yabe-shock- 
up"  or  "  the  Country  of  the  Mountains."  The  only  consider 
able  body  of  water  is  Flat  Head  Lake,  in  the  north-western 
corner,  and  the  source  of  the  river  of  the  same  name. 

As  the  main  importance  abroad  given  to  Montana  is  wholly 
connected  with  the  gold  mines,  an  account  of  them  may  be  in 
teresting,  though  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  convey  to  the 
reader  a  good  idea  of  them.  Gold  is  not  picked  up  by  the 
handful,  even  in  the  best  of  diggings;  and  long  lines  of  sluice 
boxes,  piles  of  cobble  stones,  and  thick  beds  of  mud  in  the 
shape  of  "tailings,"  have  all  to  be  taken  into  account  when 
thinking  of  getting  out  gold  in  the  placers.  To  this  must  be 
added  the  heavily-booted  and  thickly-bearded  miners,  who  are 
a  distinct  class  of  people,  having  their  own  peculiar  phrases, 
their  own  laws,  their  own  amusements,  and  their  own  ways  of 
dressing,  living,  and  working.  That  they  do  work  is  certain : 
ill  no  country  on  earth  do  they  work  so  hard,  and  all  the 
mining  that  has  ever  been  done  in  the  United  States  has  not 
paid  in  coin  more  than  ten  cents  per  day.  When  people  think 
of  going  to  the  gold  mines,  it  would  be  well  to  bear  this  fact 
in  view. 

It  would  be  useless  to  go  into  dry  mining  details,  which  at 
best  are  unsatisfactory,  and  therefore  only  the  general  results 
will  be  given  in  round  numbers.  It  must  be  said  that  this 
statement  has  been  drawn  up  by  a  warm  friend  of  the  Mon 
tana  mines,  and  must  be  received  with  some  caution.  Since 
the  discovery  that  gold  has  been  found  in  the  territory,  it  is 
supposed  the  following-named  sums  have  been  taken  out  of  the 
placer  mines  in  the  several  counties  of  the  territory : 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  455 

Madison  County, $40,000,000 

Lewis  &  Clark  County, 19,360,000 

Deer  Lodge  County, 13,250,000 

Meagher  County, 6,949,200 

Jefferson  County, 4,500,000 

Beaver  Head  County, 2,245,000 

Emigrant  Gulch  on  the  Yellowstone  Neighbor- 

ingburg,    .        .  ' 80,000 


$86,384,200 
Yield  for  Quartz, 6,000,000 


Total, $92,384,200 

In  addition  there  are  Choteau,  Missoula,  Muscleshell,  and 
Gallatin  Counties  from  which  there  are  no  returns. 

In  the  autumn  of  1869  rich  gold  discoveries  were  made  in 
Missoula  County.  The  new  diggings  are  said  to  be  very  ex 
tensive,  and  a  large  mining  camp  sprung  up  there  during  the 
winter  of  1869-70.  A  great  many  people  left  Helena  and 
other  towns  on  both  sides  of  the  range,  and  the  roads  leading 
in  the  direction  of  Missoula  were  dotted  with  eager  gold-seek 
ers  bound  for  speedy  fortunes. 

As  all  gold  discoveries  run  about  the  same  course,  the  follow 
ing  characteristic  letters  are  given  relative  to  these  mines : 

LETTER  TO  W.  H.  TODD. 

"  FISH  CREEK  FERRY,  MISSOULA  COUNTY, 

MONTANA  TERRITORY,  Dec.  4,  1869. 

"  About  two  weeks  since  a  few  Frenchmen  passed  here,  and 
the  report  was  a  '  big  strike '  had  been  made  somewhere  near 
Losa's  Eanche,  situated  some  twenty  miles  below  Frenchtown. 
Two  or  three  days  more  and  the  stampede  was  up  in  earnest, 


456  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

men  passing  at  all  hours  of  the  day  and  night.  1  started  at 
dark,  and  reached  Losa's  Eanche  at  2  o'clock.  Next  morning 
we  followed  our  guide  across  the  Missouri  River,  thence  five 
miles  down,  crossed  a  stream,  and  followed  it  up  about  four 
miles.  Here  we  left  our  horses,  took  a  little  grub  and  our 
blankets,  and  footed  it  nine  miles  up  the  creek,  and  were  in  the 
diggings.  They  were  discovered  last  summer  by  French,  who 
panned  out  over-three  hundred  dollars  in  six  days'  time,  from 
different  places  up  and  down  the  gulch.  One  nugget  of  eight 
een  dollars  was  found.  I  located  claim  63  below  discovery. 
Ten  cents  to  the  pan  has  been  taken  out  of  the  top  gravel  for 
two  thousand  feet  below  my  ground,  and,  in  one  instance,  as 
high  as  fifty-eight  cents  was  taken  out  of  two  pans.  It  is 
thought  the  whole  length  of  the  main  creek  is  good ;  also,  the 
right-hand  fork,  which  is  seven  or  eight  miles  long,  and  empties 
in  below  discovery.  Eespectfully,  etc., 

"  NELSON  J.  COCHRANE. 

A  Missoula  correspondent,  writing  under  date  of  December 
6,  1869,  communicates  the  following : 

"  I  will  now  come  to  another  excitement,  which,  I  am  sure, 
will  be  of  more  interest  to  the  public.  I  refer  to  the  stampede 
now  going  on  to  the  new  Eldorado  of  Montana,  and  located  on 
the  west  side  of  the  Missouri  River,  some  seventy-five  miles 
below  here,  and  to  which  place  every  body  has  gone  or  is  going 
as  soon  as  he  can.  The  excitement  commenced  last  week,  but 
little  was  then  thought  of  it.  Last  week  parties  arrived  in 
town  from  there,  when  the  news  spread  like  fire,  and  never, 
since  the  memorable  stampede  from  Bannock  to  Alder  Gulch,  in 
1863,  have  I  seen  the  like.  Every  one  who  can  get  a  horse 
has  gone.  A  creek  ten  or  twelve  miles  long  has  been  pros- 


BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF.  457 

pected,  and  the  result  shows  it  to  be  of  fabulous  richness — even 
too  rich  to  be  told  by  a  newspaper  correspondent.  Suffice  it  to 
say  that  it  bids  fair  to  rival  Alder  Gulch  in  its  best  days.  I 
saw  and  talked  with  the  discoverer  to-day,  and  others  direct 
from  there.  The  gulch  or  creek  proper  was  discovered  by  a 
Canadian  named  Louis  Bassette,  and  the  majority  of  the  men 
in  there  are  Canadians.  I  have  seen  some  of  the  gold,  and  it 
much  resembles  that  from  McClellan  Gulch — quite  coarse  and 
of  good  quality.  Runners  have  been  sent  to  the  camps  in 
Deer  Lodge,  and  a  general  stampede  from  the  other  country  is 
expected  to  commence  in  a  few  days,  as  men  can  not  hold 
ground  unless  they  are  there  in  person. 

"  J.  N.  KlNGOLD." 

In  April,  1865,  flour  sold  in  Virginia  City  for  one  hundred 
and  ten  dollars  a  hundred  pounds,  or  one  dollar  and  ten  cents 
in  gold  per  pound.  It  must  be  confessed  this  was  a  high  price, 
and  every  thing  else  was  in  proportion.  At  that  time  men 
lived  on  "  beef  straight,"  and  gave  the  flour  to  the  women  and 
children. 

The  largest  nugget  yet  found  in  the  territory  was  one  which 
was  discovered  in  Nelson's  Gulch,  on  the  3d  July,  1863,  which 
was  worth  two  thousand  and  sixty-three  dollars.  Near  this 
gulch  the  outline  of  the  mountains  present  a  most  singular 
appearance.  In  Arizona  a  bold  outline  on  the  mountain  side, 
a  short  distance  west  of  Maricopa  Wells,  is  called  "  Montezu- 
ma's  Face/'  and  is,  indeed,  a  most  perfect  representation  of  the 
face  of  a  man  lying  on  his  back,  dead.  It  is  looked  upon  with 
awe  by  the  neighboring  Indians. 

Montana  is  now  almost  isolated  from  the  great  and  stirring 
events  which  are  going  on  in  the  new  path  of  commerce  which 
stretches  across  the  continent.  It  seems  to  be,  and  really  is, 


458  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

one  of  the  most  remote  portions  of  our  country,  blocked  in  by 
the  far  Western  States  and  those  of  the  Pacific,  and  having  for 
its  boundary  on  the  north  the  bleak  and  almost  limitless  Brit 
ish  Possessions.  It  is  a  majestic,  wild,  and  solitary  land. 

Embracing  that  region  lying  between  the  45th  and  49th 
parallels  of  north  latitude,  and  the  27th  and  39th  meridians 
west  from  Washington,  it  contains  an  area  of  one  hundred  and 
forty-three  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-six  square 
miles,  equal  to  ninety-two  million  sixteen  thousand  six  hun 
dred  and  forty  acres,  extending  from  east  to  west  about  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  miles,  and  from  north  to  south  about  two 
hundred  and  seventy-five  miles.  This  area  is  nearly  equal  to 
that  of  California,  and  three  times  that  of  New  York. 

Of  this  region  the  Surveyor-general,  in  his  report  for  1869, 
estimates  that  fully  thirty  millions  six  hundred  and  seventy- 
two  thousand  two  hundred  and  sixteen  acres  are  susceptible  of 
cultivation.  This  is  about  one-third  of  the  territory;  the 
other  two-thirds  comprise  the  main  range  of  the  Rocky  Mount 
ains,  running  north  and  south  across  the  territory,  and  numer 
ous  subordinate  spurs,  whose  peaks  often  surpass  in  altitude 
those  of  the  main  range. 

Among  the  spurs  may  be  mentioned  the  Coeur  d'Alene  and 
Bitter  Root  Mountains,  making  the  dividing  line  between 
Montana  and  Idaho  on  the  west,  between  which  and  the  main 
range  lies  the  rich  and  productive  country  embraced  in  Deer 
Lodge  and  Missoula  Counties;  the  Belt  and  Judith  Mount 
ains,  separating  the  sparsely  settled  Muscleshell  County  on  the 
north-east,  and  Choteau  County  on  the  north-west,  from  the 
rich  mining  regions  of  Meagher  County  on  the  south,  extend 
ing  to  the  Missouri  River,  which  is  also  the  north-eastern 
boundvy  of  Lewis  &  Clark  County ;  the  Bear's  Paw  and 


BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF.  459 

Little  Rocky  Mountains,  still  to  the  north ;  the  Big  Horn 
Mountains  extending  into  Dakota,  in  the  south-east,  north  and 
east  of  which  lies  the  unorganized  county  of  Big  Horn  or 
Vaughan,  embracing  the  Yellowstone  region,  with  Gallatin 
County  to  the  north-west,  and  Madison  and  Beaver  Head  lying 
west  and  south-west ;  and  the  western  spurs  of  the  Wind 
River  Mountains,  on  the  extreme  eastern  border. 

Coal  of  a  good  quality  has  been  found  in  Montana,  and  as 
rapidly  as  the  country  settles  up,  and  it  becomes  necessary  to 
develop  this  source  of  wealth,  it  will  no  doubt  be  found  in 
great  abundance,  and  perhaps  of  a  superior  quality.  Near 
Borzeman  a  fine  vein  of  bituminous  coal  has  been  developed. 
Just  above  Benton  a  promising  vein  has  been  opened ;  above 
Bannock,  and  also  near  Virginia  City,  and  on  the  Dearborn, 
veins  from  four  to  five  feet  have  been  discovered. 

The  inhabitants  of  Montana  are  a  generous,  open-hearted 
people,  full  of  life  and  activity,  and  noted  for  that  boundless 
hospitality  which  is  peculiar  to  the  frontiers.  They  change 
their  places  of  abode  readily,  build  up  a  town  rapidly,  and  with 
little  or  no  ceremony,  and  abandon  it  as  readily  with  no  symp-  , 
toms  of  regret.  Wherever  mines  are  there  they  are  also.  They 
believe  in  themselves ;  take  an  immense  amount  of  stock  in  the 
Great  West ;  do  not  object  to  "  whisky  straight ; "  are  always  on 
hand  to  assist  a  friend  in  distress,  and  take  kindly  to  theaters 
and  hurdy-gurdy  saloons.  "  Plug  "  hats  and  store  clothes  are 
their  abomination.  A  buckskin  rig  is  considered  the  height  of 
the  ton,  with  a  broad-brimmed  soft  hat  "  reared  back  "  in  front. 


SUPPLEMENTARY    CHAPTERS, 


I. 

AN    INDIAN    ELOPEMENT. 

T^HE  British  traveler,  Atkinson,  has  already  told  the  tale 
of  Souk,  and  had  he  laid  his  story  among  the  Ogallala 
Sioux,  instead  of  the  wild  Kirghis,  and  dated  it  about  the 
middle,  instead  of  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  he 
would  have  been  entirely  correct. 

Souk,  was  the  son  of  the  great  chief  of  his  tribe,  and  a 
young  man  of  remarkable  ability.  His  father  had  great  con 
fidence  in  the  sagacity  of  his  son,  and  intrusted  him  with  all 
important  expeditions  of  war  and  diplomacy.  So  great,  indeed, 
was  the  belief  of  the  old  chief  in  his  son,  that  he  would  under 
take  no  enterprise  without  first  consulting  him. 

The  Ogallalas  and  Brules  had  sprung  from  the  same  parent 
stock,  and  had  long  been  friendly.  They  were  the  two  most 
powerful  tribes  on  the  plains,  and  by  uniting  their  councils  and 
forces,  gave  law  to  all  the  weaker  tribes.  At  the  head  of  the 
Brules  was  an  old  and  experienced  chief,  who  often  met  Souk's 
father  to  consult  about  the  welfare  of  their  tribes,  and,  on  all 
such  occasions,  Souk  was  present  as  the  prime  minister  of  his 
chief  and  father.  The  old  Brule  frequently  noticed  the  young 
Ogallala,  and  seemed  mightily  pleased  with  him.  On  one  or 
two  occasions,  he  spoke  to  Souk  encouragingly,  and  one  day 

went  so  far  as  to  invite  him  to  visit  his  tribe,  and  spend  a  few 
28  (463) 


464  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

days  at  his  lodge.  These  visits  were  often  repeated,  and  it  was 
during  one  of  them,  Souk  met  the  daughter  of  his  friend,  who 
was  the  belle  of  her  tribe,  and,  besides  her  great  personal 
charms,  was  esteemed  to  be  the  most  virtuous  and  accomplished 
young  woman  in  the  nation.  It  did  not  take  long  for  her  to 
make  an  impression  on  the  heart  of  Souk,  and  soon  both  the 
young  people  found  themselves  over  head  and  ears  in  love  with 
each  other. 

The  Indian  girl  was  proud  of  her  lover,  as  well  she  might 
be,  for  he  was  only  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  tall,  handsome, 
flood-tempered,  and  manly  in  his  deportment.  Besides  these 
considerations  in  his  favor,  he  was  virtually  the  head  of  his 
tribe,  and  no  warrior  was  more  renowned  for  deeds  of  valor. 
A  born  chief,  the  idol  of  his  aged  father,  prepossessing  in  his 
appearance,  already  at  the  head  of  his  tribe,  and  its  chief  war 
rior,  he  was  just  such  a  person  as  was  likely  to  move  the  heart 
and  excite  the  admiration  of  a  young  girl. 

Atchafalaya*  was  the  only  daughter  of  the  Brule  chief,  and 
the  spoiled  pet  of  her  father.  She  was  tall,  lithe,  and  agile  as 
an  antelope.  She  could  ride  the  wildest  steed  in  her  father's 
herds,  and  no  maiden  in  the  tribe  could  shoot  her  painted  bow 
so  well,  so  daintily  braid  her  hair,  or  bead  moccasins  as  nicely 
as  Atchafalaya.  Giving  all  the  love  of  her  passionate  nature  to 
Souk,  he  loved  her  with  the  whole  strength  of  his  manly  heart 
in  return.  Day  after  day,  the  lovers  lingered  side  by  side,  sat 
under  the  shade  of  the  great  trees  by  the  clear  running  brook, 
or  hand  in  hand,  gathered  wild  flowers  by  the  shadows  of  the 
tall  hills; 

Sometimes  Souk  was  at  the  village  of  his  father,  but  he 

*  Pronounced — Chaf-fa-ly-a. 


AN  INDIAN  ELOPEMENT.  465 

always  made  haste  to  excuse  himself,  and  hurried  back  to  the 
camps  of  the  Brule  chief;  indeed,  he  was  never  content,  except 
when  by  the  side  of  the  bewitching  Atchafalaya.  The  old  men 
knew  of  the  growing  attachment  between  their  children,  and 
seemed  rather  to  encourage  than  oppose  it.  Atchafalaya  was 
buoyantly  happy,  and  a  golden  future  seemed  opening  up  before 
her.  Souk  often  reflected  how  happy  he  would  be  when  he 
and  his  darling  were  married  ;  and,  frequently,  at  night,  when 
the  stars  were  out,  the  young  lovers  would  sit  for  hours  and 
plan  the  future  happiness  of  themselves,  and  the  people,  over 
whom  they  would  rule. 

One  day,  Souk  returned  to  his  father's  camp,  'and  formally 
notified  him  of  his  love  for  Atchafalaya,  and  demanded  her  in 
marriage.  The  old  chief  listened  attentively,  and  at  the  close 
of  Souk's  harangue,  rose  and  struck  the  ground  three  times 
with  his  spear,  declaring  that  he  knew  of  no  reason  why  his 
son  should  not  be  made  happy,  and  have  Atchafalaya  to  wife. 
The  grateful  Souk  was  so  overjoyed,  that  forgetting  his  position, 
and  the  rank  of  his  chief,  he  fell  upon  his  neck,  and  kissing 
him  again  and  again,  actually  shed  tears.  Putting  him  kindly 
aside,  the  father,  well  knowing  the  impatience  of  young  lovers, 
hastily  summoned  three  of  his  most  distinguished  chiefs,  and 
said  to  them,  "  Mount  your  swiftest  horses !  go  to  the  camps  of 
the  Brule,  and  when  you  have  come  to  him,  say,  Souk,  the  son 
of  his  old  friend,  loves  his  only  daughter,  Atchafalaya,  and  that 
I  demand  her  of  him  in  marriage  to  my  son.  You  will  also  say, 
that,  according  to  the  ancient  customs  of  our  tribes,  I  will  pay 
to  him  whatever  presents  he  may  demand  for  the  maiden,  and 
that  it  is  my  desire,  the  friendship  long  existing  between  our 
selves  and  our  people  may  be  cemented  by  the  marriage  of  our 
children." 

40 


4G6  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

*r 
f 

Bowing  low,  the  chiefs  retired,  and  were  soon  on  their 

to  the  Brule  village,  which  was  three  days'  journey  distant. 
Rather  than  wait  impatiently  in  the  camp  until  the  chiefs 
would  return,  Souk  proposed  to  go  on  a  short  hunting  excur 
sion  with  some  young  warrior  friends  to  whom  he  could 
unbosom  himself. 

Meantime,  the  chiefs  had  proceeded  on  their  errand,  and  on 
the  evening  of  the  third  day,  caught  sight  of  the  Brule  camp. 
They  were  hospitably  received  by  the  venerable*  chief,  who  did 
all  in  his  power  to  make  them  comfortable  after  their  fatiguing 
ride.  On  the  following  morning,  the  chief  assembled  his  coun 
selors,  and  making  a  great  dog- feast,  heard  the  request  of  the 
embassadors.  When  they  had  done  speaking,  the  Brule  rose 
and  announced  his  consent  to  the  marriage,  saying,  he  was 
delighted  to  know  that  h^s  daughter  was  to  be  the  wife  of  so 
brave  and  worthy  a  young  man  as  the  son  of  his  friend.  He 
then  dismissed  the  chiefs,  stating  that  he  would  shortly  send  an 
embassy  to  receive  the  promised  presents,  and  complete  the 
arrangements  for  the  marriage  of  the  young  couple. 

When  the  chiefs  returned  to  their  camp  and  announced  the 
result  of  their  mission,  there  was  great  rejoicing,  and  Souk, 
who  had  cut  his  hunt  short  and  returned  before  the  chiefs,  was 
now,  perhaps,  the  happiest  man  in  the  world.  There  was  still, 
however,  one  thing  which  greatly  troubled  him.  He  knew  his 
father  was  very  proud,  and  considered  the  honor  of  an  alliance 
with  his  family  so  great  that  but  few  presents  would  be  re 
quired  to  be  made.  On  the  other  hand,  the  old  Brule  was 
exceedingly  parsimonious,  and,  no  doubt,  would  take  this 
opportunity  to  enrich  himself  by  demanding  a  great  price  for 
his  daughter's  hand. 

Determined  not  to  wait  the  pending  negotiations  before  see- 


AN   INDIAN   ELOPEMENT.  467 

ing  his  sweetheart,  Souk  summoned  a  band  of  his  young 
warriors,  and  burning  with  love,  set  out  for  the  Brule  camp. 
It  being  the  month  of  June,  Souk  knew  the  old  chief  would 
have  removed  from  his  winter  encampment  to  his  summer  hunt 
ing-grounds  and  pasture,  on  the  Lower  Platte.  This  would 
require  some  seven  or  eight  days  more  travel,  and  carry  him 
through  a  portion  of  the  territory  of  his  enemies;  but  love 
laughs  at  danger,  and  selecting  eight  tried  companions,  he  set 
out.  The  evening  of  the  second  day  brought  him  to  the  bor 
der  of  his  father's  dominions,  and,  selecting  a  sheltered  camp 
by  the  side  of  a  little  stream,  they  determined  to  rest  their 
animals  for  a  day  before  crossing  the  country  of  the  hostile 
Cheyennes. 

As  soon  as  it  was  dark  they  saddled  their  horses,  and,  swim 
ming  the  Upper  Platte,  set  out  to  cross  the  enemy's  lands. 
Their  route  lay  in  a  south-easterly  direction,  and  led  them  over 
a  fine  hilly  country,  almost  destitute  of  wood,  except  in  the 
deep  valleys  and  narrow  ravines.  The  sun  had  long  passed 
the  meridian,  the  horses  had  rested,  and  thi,  travelers  taken 
their  midday  meal,  but  as  yet  had  seen  nothing  to  indicate  that 
man  was  anywhere  in  this  vast  region. 

The  sun  was  fast  going  down,  and  they  were  endeavoring  to 
reach  a  good  camping-ground  known  to  several  of  the  party, 
when  suddenly,  as  they  were  descending  a  mountain,  they  saw 
below  them  smoke  curling  up,  and,  in  the  distance,  two  objects 
which  looked  like  ants  on  the  plain.  From  their  position  they 
could  not  see  the  fires  from  whence  the  smoke  arose,  but  the 
sight  of  it  caused  them  hastily  to  dismount  and  lead  their 
horses  under  shelter  of  the  projecting  rocks,  that  they  might 
not  be  discovered. 

Two  advanced  on   foot  to  reconnoiter,  creeping  cautiously 


V 

468  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

round  the  base  of  the  rocks,  and  then  onward  among  fallen 
masses  that  completely  screened  them.  At  length  they  reached 
a  point  from  which  they  beheld,  about  half  a  mile  below  them, 
an  encampment  of  over  one  hundred  men.  Three  large  fires 
were  blazing,  and  while  groups  were  gathered  around  them, 
others  were  picketing  out  the  horses,  and  evidently  preparing 
to  encamp  for  the  night.  Souk's  men  had  not  long  been  in 
their  observatory  when  they  saw  two  men  riding  furiously 
down  the  valley  toward  the  camp,  and  they  instantly  surmised 
that  these  were  the  two  black  spots  they  had  seen  on  the  plain, 
and  that  Souk  and  his  party  had  been  discovered.  They  were 
not  long  left  in  doubt,  however,  for  as  soon  as  the  horsemen 
reached  the  camp  they  rode  to  the  chiefs  lodge,  commenced 
gesticulating  violently,  and  pointing  toward  the  cliffs  wher** 
Souk  and  his  men  were.  A  crowd  gathered  around  the  new 
comers,  and  presently  several  were  seen  to  run  to  their  horses 
and  commence  saddling  up.  The  scouts  now  hastily  left 
their  hiding-place,  and  hurried  back  to  Souk,  whom  they  in 
formed  of  all  that  was  transpiring  below. 

Not  a  moment  was  to  be  lost,  and,  ordering  his  men  to 
mount,  Souk  turned  up  the  mountain  along  the  path  he  had 
just  come.  He  knew  he  had  a  dangerous  and  wily  enemy  to 
deal  with,  ten  times  his  own  in  numbers,  and  that  it  would  re 
quire  all  his  skill  to  elude  them,  or  the  greatest  bravery  to  de 
feat  them,  should  it  become  necessary  to  fight. 

Fortunately  he  knew  a  pass  further  to  the  west  that  was 
rarely  used,  and  for  this  he  gushed  with  all  his  might.  On 
reaching  the  mountain-top,  and  looking  back,  black  objects 
could  be  seen  moving  rapidly  up  the  valley,  and  they  knew  the 
enemy  was  in  pursuit  of  them.  All  night  Souk  toiled  along, 
and,  when  the  morning  began  to  break,  saw  the  pass  he  was 


AN    INDIAN   ELOPEMENT.  469 

seeking  still  several  miles  ahead.  Reaching  the  mountain's 
edge  at  sunrise,  they  dismounted  and  began  the  perilous  descent 
into  the  gorge>  In  two  hours  it  was  accomplished,  and  they 
entered  the  Bomber  shadows  of  the  great  canon.  They  had 
begun  to  feel*  safe,  when  suddenly  the  man  in  front  reined  up 
his  horse  and  pointed  to  several  pony  tracks  in  the  sand.  Souk 
dismounted  and  examined  them,  and,  on  looking  round,  saw 
where  the  animals  had  been  picketed,  apparently,  about  two 
hours  before. 

Could  it  be  possible  that  the  enemy  had  reached  the  pass 
before  him,  and  were  waiting  to  attack  him  higher  up  in  the 
gorge?  He  could  hardly  credit  it,  and  yet  it  must  be  so, 
for  who  else  could  be  in  that  lonely  glen.  Recollecting  that 
the  cafion  to  the  right  would  carry  him  into  the  great  pass 
some  ten  miles  higher  up,  he  still  hoped  to  get  through  be 
fore  the  enemy  reached  it,  and,  hastily  mounting,  they  galloped 
furiously  forward.  They  had  come  in  sight  of  the  great  pass, 
when,  just  as  they  were  about  to  enter  it,  they  saw  a  man  sit 
ting  on  a  horse  a  few  hundred  yards  ahead  of  them,  and 
directly  in  the  trail.  On  observing  the  Ogallalas,  the  horse 
man  gave  the  Cheyenne  war-whoop,  and,  in  a  moment,  a  dozen 
other  mounted  men  appeared  in  rear  of  the  first. 

Grasping  his  spear,  Souk  shouted  his  war-whoop,  and,  or 
dering  his  men  to  charge,  dashed  down  upon  the  enemy. 
Plunging  his  spear  into  the  nearest  foe,  he  drew  his  battle-ax 
and  clove  open  the  head  of  the  one  in  rear,  and  before  his 
comrades  could  come  up  with  him  had  unhorsed  a  third.  A 
shout  down  the  great  caflon  caused  Souk  to  hurriedly  look 
that  way,  when  he  saw  about  fifty  warriors  galloping  toward 
him.  He  now  knew  he  had  reached  the  pass  ahead  of  the 
main  body,  and  encountered  only  the  scouts  of  the  Cheyennes. 


470  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

Ordering  his  men  to  push  on  up  the  pass  to  the  great  valley 
beyond,  he,  with  two  companions,  remained  behind  to  covei 
their  retreat.  On  coming  to  their  dead  and  wounded  warriors 
the  Cheyennes  halted  and  held  a  conference,  while  Souk  and 
his  friends  leisurely  pursued  their  journey.  In  the  gorge  in 
which  he  then  was,  Souk  knew  ten  men  were  as  good  as  a  hun 
dred,  and  he  was  in  no  hurry  to  leave  the  friendly  shelter  of  the 
rocks.  Taking  up  a  position  behind  a  sharp  butte,  he  fortified 
the  place,  and  quietly  waited  for  the  Cheyennes.  Hour  after  hour 
passed,  but  they  did  not  appear.  The  shadows  of  evening  were 
beginning  to  creep  into  the  ravines,  and  several  of  Souk's  party 
were  anxious  to  quit  their  retreat  and  continue  their  journey, 
confident  that  the  Cheyennes  had  returned  to  their  camp,  but 
the  wily  young  Sioux  told  them  to  be  patient,  and  he  would 
inform  them  when  it  was  time  to  go.  The  evening  deepened 
into  twilight,  the  moon  rose  over  the  peaks  and  stood  overhead, 
indicating  that  it  was  midnight,  but  still  Souk  would  not  go. 
His  men  had  begun  to  grumble,  when  suddenly  a  noise  was 
heard  in  the  gorge  below,  and  presently  voices  and  the  tramp 
of  horses  could  be  distinguished.  Souk  ordered  four  of  his 
men  to  mount  and  be  ready  to  leap  the  rude  rock  breastworks 
when  he  gave  them  notice,  and  to  cheer  and  shout  as  loudly  as 
possible.  He  then  lay  down  with  the  other  four,  and  waited 
for  the  foe.  To  his  delight  he  noticed,  as  the  Cheyennes  came 
up,  many  of  them  were  dismounted,  and  leading  their  ponies. 
They  came  within  a  few  feet  of  the  barricade  before  they  per 
ceived  it,  and  then  Souk  and  his  comrades  commenced  a  rapid 
discharge  of  arrows  into  their  midst.  Three  or  four  shots  had 
been  fired  before  the  Cheyennes  knew  what  the  matter  was,  or 
where  the  whizzing  shafts  came  from.  Then  Souk  shouted  his 
battle-cry,  and  the  four  mounted  Sioux,  repeating  it  from  be- 


AN   INDIAN    ELOPEMENT.  471 

V 

hind  the  butte,  dashed  over  the  barricade  and  charged  the 
enemy,  who  broke  and  fled  in  the  utmost  confusion  down  the 
gorge.  In  a  moment  Souk,  with  his  remaining  Sioux,  was 
mounted  and  after  them.  The  animals  of  the  Cheyennes 
broke  loose  from  some  of  the  dismounted  warriors  before  they 
could  mount,  and  left  them  on  foot.  Several  hid  among  the 
rocks,  but  four,  Souk  overtook  and  killed.  The  pursuit  was 
kept  up  for  nearly  five  miles,  when  Souk  turned  back  and 
hastily  continued  his  journey  to  the  Brule  camp,  where  he  ar 
rived  in  safety  on  the  evening  of  the  seventh  day. 

He  was  kindly  received  by  the  father  of  his  bride,  and  given 
a  dozen  fine  lodges  for  himself  and  friends.  The  meeting  be 
tween  Souk  and  his  sweetheart  was  as  tender  as  that  of  lovers 
could  be,  and  now,  that  they  were  once  together,  both  were 
perfectly  happy.  Near  the  Brule  encampment  were  some 
mountain  vines  covered  with  flowers,  and  here  Souk  and 
Atchafalaya  each  day  spent  hour  after  hour  in  sweet  com 
munion  with  each  other.  The  stream  was  dotted  for  miles 
with  hundreds  of  richly-painted  teepees;  thousands  of  horses 
and  ponies  were  constantly  to  be  seen  grazing  in  the  green 
valley,  and  scores  of  warriors  in  their  gay  and  various-colored 
costumes  galloped  to  and  fro  among  the  villages.  It  was  a 
pleasant  sight  at  the  home  of  the  old  Brule,  and  one  that  filled 
their  young  hearts  with  pride  and  joy,  for  all  these  herds  and 
people  were  one  day  to  be  theirs. 

After  lingering  a  month  in  the  camp,  the  old  Brule  one  day 
announced  to  Souk  he  was  about  to  send  the  chiefs  to  receive 
the  presents  for  Atchafalaya's  hand,  and  if  the  young  man  and 
his  friends  wished  to  return  home  it  would  be  a  favorable  op 
portunity  for  them  to  do  so.  Souk  took  the  hint  and  made 
preparations  accordingly. 


472  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE   CHIEF. 

By  the  advice  of  the  old  chief,  the  party  took  another  route, 
and,  although  it  was  two  days  longer,  it  brought  them  in  safety 
to  the  Ogallala  encampment. 

At  Souk's  request,  his  father  immediately  assembled  the  coun 
cil,  and  the  negotiations  for  Atchafalaya's  hand  began.  An  aged 
Brule  made  the  first  speech,  expatiating  on  the  power  of  his 
chief,  the  richness  of  the  tribe,  and  the  beauty  of  Atchafalaya. 
This  was  followed  by  an  Ogallala,  who  dwelt  at  length  upon 
the  power  of  his  chief,  his  rank,  and  age,  and  upon  the  noble 
ness,  bravery,  and  skill  of  Souk.  Several  other  speeches  were 
made  on  each  side,  in  which  the  young  man  and  woman  were 
alternately  praised,  and  the  glory  of  their  fathers  extolled  to  the 
skies.  The  council  then  adjourned  until  the  following  day,  the 
important  point  of  the  conference — the  price  of  the  lady's  hand — 
not  having  been  touched  upon  at  all. 

Next  day  the  conference  continued,  and  toward  evening  the 
Brule  chiefs,  after  having  spoken  a  great  deal,  abruptly  demanded 
fifty  horses  and  two  hundred  ponies,  as  the  price  for  Atchafalaya. 

The  friends  of  Souk  were  a  good  deal  surprised  at  the  ex 
travagant  demand  of  the  Brules,  it  being  about  three  times  more 
than  they  expected  to  give.  Souk's  father  could  not  conceal  his 
indignation,  and  saying  he  would  give  but  twenty-five  horses 
and  one  hundred  ponies,  adjourned  the  council,  directing  the 
Brule  chiefs  to  return  home  and  inform  their  venerable  head  of 
his  decision. 

Souk  returned  to  his  lodge  with  a  heavy  heart,  for  he  clearly 
foresaw  trouble,  and  that  his  love,  like  all  other  "  true  loves," 
was  not  to  run  smoothly.  Summoning  his  friends,  he  desired 
them  to  make  as  many  presents  as  possible  to  the  Brule  chiefs, 
and  before  they  started  he  added  five  fine  horses  of  his  own, 
hoping  by  this  liberality  to  secure  their  good  will.  He  also 


AN  INDIAN   ELOPEMENT.  473 

caused  them  to  be  secretly  informed,  that  if  they  could  induce 
the  Brule  chief  to  accept  his  father's  offer  he  would,  on  the  day 
of  his  marriage,  present  to  each  of  them,  a  fine  American  horse. 

Before  leaving  the  Brule  camp,  Souk  and  Atchafalaya  had 
vowed  a  true  lover's  vow,  that,  come  what  would  of  the  council, 
they  would  be  faithful  to  each  other,  and  die  rather  than  break 
their  plighted  troth.  Souk  had  also  promised  his  betrothed  he 
would  return  in  the  fall  and  make  her  his  wife,  with  or  with 
out  the  consent  of  the  tribes. 

As  the  summer  months  wore  away,  and  no  word  was  received 
from  the  Brule  camp,  Souk  became  each  day  more  restless,  and, 
finally,  calling  together  a  few  of  his  friends,  started  once  more 
for  the  Brules'  home. 

He  was  received  most  cordially  by  the  old  chief,  and  as  be 
fore,  given  most  hospitable  entertainment.  Often,  however,  he 
thought  he  detected  sadness  on  the  old  man's  face,  and  on  ques 
tioning  Atchafalaya  as  to  the  cause  of  her  father's  trouble,  the 
poor  girl  burst  into  tears  and  confessed  she  was  about  to  be 
sacrificed  for  her  father's  good.  She  said  that  the  Cheyenne 
chief,  with  whom  her  father  had  long  been  at  war,  had  asked 
her  hand,  and  promised,  on  receiving  her  as  one  of  his  wives, 
to  cease  from  warring  with  the  Sioux.  Her  father,  actuated  by 
a  desire  to  do  his  people  and  friends  good,  had,  after  the  refusal 
of  Souk's  father  to  furnish  the  required  presents,  given  the 
Cheyenne  a  promise,  and  they  were  to  be  married  the  fol 
lowing  year,  when  the  grass  grew  green  on  the  earth.  The  old 
chief  preferred  greatly  to  have  Souk  for  a  son-in-law,  but  he 
wished  also  to  serve  his  people  and  old  friends.  The  treaty 
was  to  be  binding  on  the  Cheyennes,  for  the  Ogallalas  as  well 
as  the  Brules,  and  therefore  Souk  and  his  father  would  be  greatly 

benefited  by  her  marriage  to  the  Cheyenne. 

41 


474  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE   CHIEF. 

This  astounding  intelligence  came  near  upsetting  Souk's  better 
judgment,  and  for  awhile  he  was  nearly  demented.  Taking 
the  fond  girl  in  his  arms,  he  swore,  rather  than  see  her  the  wife 
of  the  hated  Cheyenne,  he  would  spill  both  his  own  and  her 
blood,  and  they  would  go  to  the  happy  hunting-grounds  to 
gether.  Atchafalaya  begged  him  to  be  calm,  and  she  would  make 
her  escape  with  him  and  fly  to  his  people.  It  was  agreed  that, 
early  in  the  spring,  before  the  encampment  moved  to  its  sum 
mer  pastures,  Souk,  with  a  chosen  band,  should  come  over  the 
mountains,  and  in  the  confusion,  when  the  tribe  was  on  the 
march,  they  would  seize  a  favorable  opportunity  to  escape  into 
the  mountains,  from  which  they  could  make  their  way  to  Souk's 
father  and  implore  his  protection. 

Cautioning  him  to  conceal,  even  by  a  look,  all  knowledge  of 
her  engagement  to  the  Cheyenne,  the  lovers  parted,  and  next 
day  Souk  set  out  for  his  home,  apparently  utterly  indifferent 
as  to  the  result  of  the  negotiations  for  his  marriage. 

Slowly  the  winter  months  dragged  along,  and  to  the  impatient 
Souk  they  seemed  interminable,  but  at  length  the  water  began 
to  come  down  from  the'  mountains,  and  the  ice  grew  soft  on  the 
streams.  As  soon  as  he  saw  these  indications  of  returning 
spring,  Souk  called  his  bravest  friends  together  and  set  out  from 
the  camp.  He  did  not  tell  any  one  where  he  was  going,  and  it 
was  only  when  they  began  to  ascend  the  mountains  they  sus 
pected  they  were  on  their  way  to  the  Brule  camp.  In  eight  days 
they  descended  the  plain  into  the  old  chief's  home. 

He  was  greatly  astonished  to  see  Souk,*for  he  believed  it  im 
possible,  at  that  season  of  the  year,  for  any  one  to  cross  the 
mountain.  However,  he  gave  Souk  and  his  friends  a  hearty 
welcome,  and  again  provided  them  with  every  thing  they 
needed. 


AN   INDIAN   ELOPEMENT.  475 

Next  day  the  chief  rode  down  the  river  to  prepare  the  camps 
for  moving,  and  Souk  and  Atchafalaya,  being  left  alone  in  the 
camp,  had  all  the  oppportunity  they  desired  for  laying  their 
plans.  Atchafalaya  said  the  camp  would  move  in  four  days, 
and  that  in  the  meantime  they  must  make  every  preparation  for 
their  flight.  There  was  one  horse  in  the  herd,  she  said,  that 
was  the  swiftest  in  the  tribe,  and  he  must  be  either  killed  or 
she  would  ride  him.  Her  father  had  always  objected  to  her 
mounting  this  animal,  because  he  was  so  vicious,  but,  now  that 
he  was  away,  it  would  be  a  good  time  for  her  to  ride  the  ani 
mal,  and  show  to  her  father  that  she  was  a  better  horsewoman 
than  he  thought.  Once  upon  him,  she  could  pretend  a  fond 
ness  for  the  beast,  and  thus  secure  him  to  ride  on  the  trip. 
Souk  agreed  to  all  she  said,  and  the  wild  horse  was  at  once 
sent  for.  He  reared  and  plunged  fearfully,  but  at  length  he 
was  conquered,  and  Atchafalaya  mounted  his  back.  Souk  rode 
by  her  side,  and  they  galloped  down  the  river,  to  meet  the  old 
chief,  who  they  knew  must  by  that  time  be  returning  home 
ward,  as  it  was  nearly  evening.  They  soon  met  him,  and 
when  he  saw  his  daughter  on  the  wild  horse,  he  was  greatly 
surprised,  but  not  displeased,  for  all  Indians  are  proud  of  their 
horsemanship.  Cautioning  her  to  be  very  careful,  and  hold 
him  fast,  Souk,  the  old  chief,  and  Atchafalaya  rode  back  to 
gether  to  the  village. 

Next  day  Atchafalaya  again  rode  the  wild  horse,  and  in  the 
evening  slyly  extracted  a  promise  from  her  father  that  she 
should  be  permitted  to  ride  him  when  the  village  changed  its 
camping-ground. 

On  the  morning  of  the  fourth  day  the  herds  were  gathered, 
the  teepees  pulled  down,  and  the  village  commenced  its  march 
t©  the  summer  pastures.  The  men  had  got  the  herds  fairly  on 


476  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

the  way,  and  the  sun  was  just  tipping  the  icy  peaks  of  the 
mountains,  when  Souk  and  Atchafalaya  mounted  their  steeds 
and  galloped  swiftly  forward.  Atchafalaya  rode  the  wild  horse, 
and  Souk  was  mounted  on  a  splendid  stallion.  All  of  Souk's 
warriors  had  been  sent  the  day  before  to  Pole  Creek,  a  day  in 
advance,  under  the  pretense  of  hunting. 

Riding  on  until  they  reached  the  head  of  the  herd,  they  were 
about  to  pass,  when  the  herders  informed  the  young  couple  that 
it  was  the  chief's  orders  no  one  should  go  ahead  of  the  herd, 
and  they  could  proceed  no  further.  Giving  the  men  a  pleasant 
answer,  Atchafalaya  said  she  was  only  trying  the  mettle  of  hei 
horse,  and  at  once  turned  back.  They  had  gone  but  a  little 
distance,  when  they  entered  the  sand-hills,  and,  making  a  wide 
circuit,  came  out  far  in  advance  of  the  herd.  They  were  now 
on  the  banks  of  a  little  lake,  and,  giving  their  horses  full  rein, 
sped  by  its  clear  waters. 

Long  before  night  the  young  people  reached  Pole  Creek,  and 
found  Souk's  warriors.  He  hastily  explained  to  them  what  had 
happened,  and,  charging  them  to  remain,  and  if  possible  draw  oft' 
the  enemy  from  the  trail,  Souk  and  his  sweetheart  again  set 
forward. 

One  of  the  warriors  who  remained  behind  was  to  personate  a 
woman,  and,  if  possible,  make  the  old  chief's  people  think  he 
was  Atchafalaya.  Souk  said  he  knew  a  pass  through  the  Black 
Hills  that  would  bring  them  to  his  father's  country  two  days 
sooner  than  by  any  other  route,  and,  although  the  way  was 
somewhat  dangerous,  they  must  take  all  risks,  and  depend  on 
the  swiftness  of  their  horses  for  escape. 

All  night  they  rode  on,  and  at  sunrise  halted  on  the  top  of  a 
high  hill,  to  breakfast  on  cold  roast  antelope  and  wild  arti 
chokes.  Atchafalaya's  horse  bore  her  light  weight  without 


AN   INDIAN   ELOPEMENT.  477 

seeming  fatigue,  but  Souk  was  heavy,  and  his  steed  began  to 
show  signs  of  distress. 

Far  in  the  distance  they  could  see  the  blue  line  of  the  gap 
that  still  lay  between  them  and  safety,  and,  hurriedly  refresh 
ing  themselves  from  a  spring  of  pure  water,  they  again  set  out, 
hoping  to  reach  it  before  night. 

It  was  near  sundown  when  they  began  to  ascend  the  high 
ridge  that  led  into  the  gap,  and  they  had  just  reached  the  crest 
when  Atchafalaya,  scanning  the  valley  below  them,  descried 
horsemen  following  on  their  trail.  They  had  hoped  they  were 
not  yet  discovered,  and  under  cover  of  night  might  still  reach 
the  pass  in  safety,  but  the  horsemen  soon  divided,  and  one-half 
went  up  the  valley,  while  the  others  continued  to  follow  the  trail. 
Souk  knew  in  a  moment  that  those  who  went  up  the  valley 
were  going  to  head  them  off,  and,  although  they  had  nearly 
double  the  distance  to  ride,  their  road  was  comparatively  smooth, 
while  Souk's  lay  along  precipices  and  over  crags.  Calling  to 
Atchafalaya  that  they  must  now  ride  for  their  lives,  Souk 
whipped  up  the  horses,  and  they  began  to  climb  rapidly  the 
rugged  pathway. 

All  night  they  pushed  along,  and  at  daylight  found  themselves 
quite  near  the  pass.  Souk  scanned  the  valley  through  the  hazy 
light,  but  could  detect  no  traces  of  the  Brules  people.  He  began 
to  hope  that  they  had  not  yet  arrived,  and  spoke  encouragingly 
to  Atchafalaya,  who,  pale  with  fatigue,  now  sat  upon  her  horse 
like  a  statue.  Descending  into  the  deep  can" on,  Souk  directed 
Atchafalaya  to  ride  rapidly  for  the  pass,  while  he  followed  close 
in  the  rear,  ready  to  attack  any  enemy  that  might  appear. 
They  had  gone  half  a  mile,  and  were  just  entering  the  jaws  of 
the  great  gorge,  when  a  cry  of  distress  rose  from  the  lips  of  the 
girl,  and,  looking  to  his  right,  Souk  saw  about  twenty  Brules 


478  BELDEN:    THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

rapidly  closing  on  the  pass.  The  noble  girl  whipped  up  her 
horse,  and,  darting  forward  like  an  arrow,  shot  through  the 
pass  full  fifty  yards  ahead  of  the  foremost  Brule  warrior. 

Souk  grasped  his  battle-ax,  and,  reaching  the  pass  just  at 
the  first  Brule  came  up,  struck  his  horse  on  the  head,  dropping 
him  on  the  ground  and  sending  the  rider  rolling  over  the  rocks. 
The  second  warrior,  seeing  the  fate  of  his  companion,  swerved 
his  steed  to  one  side  and  strove  to  pass  Souk,  but  he  quickly 
drew  his  bow  and  drove  an  arrow  through  the  horse  behind 
the  fore-shoulder,  causing  him  to  drop  to  his  knees  and  fling 
his  rider  on  the  ground. 

The  lovers  were  now  ahead  of  all  their  pursuers,  and,  urging 
their  gallant  steeds  to  their  utmost,  they  soon  had  the  satisfac 
tion  of  hearing  the  shouts  of  the  Brules  dying  in  the  distance 
behind  them.  In  an  hour  they  halted,  refreshed  themselves, 
and  rested  their  horses.  In  the  distance  they  could  see  the 
Brules  halting  by  a  stream,  and  apparently  resting  also.  The 
lovers  were  the  first  to  move  on,  and,  when  once  in  the  saddle, 
they  lost  no  time. 

It  was  past  noon  when  Souk  saw  some  objects  several  miles 
off  on  the  left,  and  soon  made  them  out  to  be  part  of  the 
Brules,  who  were  making  for  the  river,  to  cut  him  off  from 
the  ford.  The  race  was  a  long  one,  but  the  lovers  won  it, 
and  crossed  in  safety. 

On  the  third  day  they  entered  the  great  mountains,  and 
drew  near  the  borders  of  the  country  of  Souk's  father.  At 
sunset  they  crossed  a  little  creek,  which  Souk  pointed  out  to 
Atchafalaya  as  the  boundary  of  the  Ogallala  lands.  Riding 
forward  a  dozen  miles,  they  halted  in  a  wild,  mountainous  re 
gion,  and,  for  the  first  time  since  starting,  prepared  to  take 
some  rest.  Souk  comforted  Atchafalaya  with  the  assurance 


AN  INDIAN  ELOPEMENT.  483 

that  another  day  would  take  them  to  his  home,  and  that  they 
were  now  well  out  of  danger. 

A  sheltered  spot  was  selected  for  their  camp,  near  a  stream, 
and,  while  Souk  gathered  some  sticks  to  make  a  small  fire,  his 
bride  walked  down  to  the  water's  edge.  He  saw  her  turn  up 
the  stream,  and  in  a  moment  more  she  was  lost  to  view.  The 
fire  was  soon  lighted,  and  Souk  busy  preparing  the  evening 
meal,  when  suddenly  he  heard  a  fearful  shriek  at  no  great 
distance. 

Seizing  his  battle-ax,  he  rushed  toward  the  spot  from  whence 
the  sound  proceeded,  but  could  see  no  one.  Calling  the  name 
of  his  bride,  he  dashed  forward  through  the  thicket,  but  could 
see  or  hear  nothing  of  her.  He  called  loudly  again,  but  re 
ceived  no  response.  The  silence  was  agonizing,  and  he  listened 
for  several  moments,  when  he  heard  the  crackling  of  some 
branches  in  the  distance.  He  rushed  frantically  to  the  spot,  but 
his  career  was  quickly  stopped  by  an  object  on  the  ground.  It 
was  the  torn  and  now  bloody  mantle  of  his  beloved.  The 
mystery  was  in  part  explained :  she  had  retired  to  this  secluded 
spot  to  offer  up  a  prayer  to  the  Great  Spirit  for  their  safe  de 
liverance,  and,  as  was  her  custom,  had  taken  off  her  mantle 
and  spread  it  on  the  earth.  On  this  she  had  knelt,  when  a 
grizzly  bear,  those  terrible  beasts  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  had 
rushed  upon  her  and  killed  her  before  she  could  utter  a  second 
cry.  His  huge  paws  were  deeply  imprinted  on  the  sand,  and 
the  trail  was  distinctly  visible  along  which  he  had  dragged 
his  victim.  Souk,  taking  the  rent  garment,  plunged  into  the 
brushwood. 

He  crossed  the  thicket  in  several  directions,  but  in  vain;  it 
was  dark,  and  he  could  not  follow  the  trail.  He  returned  to 

the  camp  in  a  frame  of  mind  bordering  on  despair.     Raising 
29 


484  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

his  hand  to  heaven,  he  swore  by  the  great  Wa-con  Ton-ka  to 
track  the  beast  to  his  den  and  slay  him,  or  perish  in  the  con 
flict.  It  seemed  to  him  an  age  before  the  ligh't  appeared,  but 
at  length  the  gray  streamers  began  to  streak  the  east,  and  Souk 
was  on  the  trail.  Again  and  again  he  lost  it,  but  the  growing 
light  enabled  him  to  find  it,  and  he  pushed  on.  He  found  the 
lair  half  a  mile  out,  where  the  beast  had  eaten  a  part  of  his 
beloved,  and,  as  he  looked  at  the  blood  stains  on  the  ground, 
his  brain  seemed  about  to  burst  from  his  skull.  Pieces  of  gar 
ments  were  left  on  some  of  the  bushes  where  the  bear  had 
dragged  the  body  along.  Far  up  into  the  mountains  Souk 
followed  the  trail,  but  at  length  lost  it  among  the  rocks.  All 
day  he  hunted  for  it  in  vain,  and  when  night  came  he  returned 
to  his  camp.  He  expected  the  enemy  had  come  up  during  his 
absence,  but  he  found  the  horses  where  he  had  left  them, 
and  the  camp  undisturbed.  How  he  wished  the  Brules  would 
come  and  kill  him.  He  cursed  himself,  and  wished  to  die,  but 
could  not.  Then  he  slept,  how  long  he  knew  not,  but  the 
sun  was  far  up  in  the  heavens  and  shining  brightly  when  he 
awoke. 

Mounting  one  of  the  horses,  and  leading  the  other,  he  started 
at  full  speed.  He  wished  to  leave  as  quickly  as  possible,  and 
forever,  the  cursed  spot  that  had  witnessed  the  destruction  of  all 
his  earthly  happiness.  It  afforded  him  some  relief  to  ride  fast, 
and  he  dashed  onward,  he  neither  knew  nor  cared  where.  His 
well-trained  steed  took  the  road  for  him,  and  as  the  evening 
shadows  were  beginning  to  creep  over  the  valley,  he  saw  far 
ahead  the  teepees  of  his  father's  village.  He  lashed  his  horse 
and  rode  like  a  madman  into  the  town.  His  faithful  warriors 
had  returned,  but  they  hardly  knew  their  beloved  young 
chief,  so  changed  was  he.  At  the  door  of  his  father's  lodge 


AN   INDIAN  ELOPEMENT.  485 

his  brave  horse  fell  dead,  and  Souk  rolled  over  on  the  ground 
insensible. 

He  was  carefully  lifted  up  and  laid  on  his  own  bed,  where 
for  many  days  he  remained  in  a  raging  fever,  at  times  delirious, 
and  calling  wildly  on  the  name  of  Atchafalaya.  Little  by  lit 
tle  he  recovered,  and  at  length  went  about  the  village  again, 
but  he  hardly  ever  spoke  to  any  one ;  and  for  years  the  Brules 
and  Ogallalas  never  visited  each  other. 


486  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 


II. 

THE    HUNTER'S    DKEAM. 

(From  the  Ottawa.) 

T 1 1HERE  was  once  a  beautiful  girl,  who  died  suddenly  on 
-*-  the  day  she  was  to  have  been  married  to  a  handsome 
young  hunter,  who  had  also  proved  his  bravery  in  war,  so 
that  he  enjoyed  the  praises  of  his  tribe,  but  his  heart  was  not 
proof  against  this  loss.  From  the  hour  his  betrothed  was 
buried,  there  was  no  more  joy  or  peace  for  him.  He  went 
often  to  visit  the  spot  where  the  women  had  buried  her,  and 
sat  musing  there  for  hours,  when,  it  was  thought  by  some  of 
his  friends,  he  would  have  done  better  to  try  and  amuse  him 
self  in  the  chase,  or  by  diverting  his  thoughts  in  the  war-path. 
But  war  and  hunting  had  lost  their  charms  for  him.  His  heart 
was  already  dead  within  him,  and  he  wholly  neglected  both  his 
war-ckib  and  his  bow. 

He  had  heard  the  old  people  say,  that  there  was  a  path  that 
led  to  the  land  of  souls,  and  he  determined  to  follow  it,  and 
accordingly  set  out  one  morning,  after  having  completed  his 
preparations  for  the  journey.  At  first  he  hardly  knew  which 
way  to  go.  He  was  only  guided  by  the  tradition  that  he  must 
go  south.  For  awhile,  he  could  see  no  change  in  the  face  of 
the  country.  Forests,  and  hills,  and  valleys,  and  streams,  had 
the  same  look  which  they  wore  on  his  native  plains.  There  was 


487 

snow  on  the  ground  when  he  set  out,  and  it  was  sometimes  seen 
to  be  piled  and  matted  on  the  thick  trees  and  bushes.  At 
length,  however,  it  began  to  diminish,  and,  as  he  walked  on, 
finally  disappeared.  The  forest  assumed  a  more  cheerful  ap 
pearance,  the  leaves  put  forth  their  buds,  and  before  he  was 
aware  of  the  completeness  of  the  change,  he  found  he  had\left 
behind  him  the  land  of  snow  and  ice.  The  air  became  mild 
and  balmy ;  the  dark  clouds  had  rolled  away  from  the  sky ;  a 
pure  field  of  blue  was  above  him;  and,  as  he  went  forward  in 
his  journey,  he  saw  flowers  beside  his  path,  and  heard  the 
song  of  birds.  By  these  signs  he  knew  that  he  was  going  the 
right  way,  for  they  agreed  with  the  traditions  of  his  tribe.  At 
length  he  spied  a  path,  which  led  him  through  a  grove,  then  up 
a  long  and  elevated  ridge,  on  the  very  top  of  which,  he  came  to 
a  lodge.  At  the  door,  stood  an  old  man  with  white  hair,  whose 
£yes,  though  deeply  sunk,  had  a  fiery  brilliancy.  He  had  a 
long  robe  of  skins  thrown  loosely  around  his  shoulders,  and 
a  staff  in  his  hands. 

The  young  man  began  to  tell  his  story;  but  the  venerable 
chief  arrested  him  before  he  had  spoken  ten  words.  "  I  have 
expected  you,"  he  replied,  "  and  had  just  risen  to  bid  you  wel 
come  to  my  abode.  She,  whom  you  seek,  passed  here  but  a 
short  time  since,  and  being  fatigued  with  her  journey,  rested 
herself  here.  Enter  my  lodge  and  be  seated,  and  I  will  then 
satisfy  your  inquiries,  and  give  you  directions  for  your  journey 
from  this  point."  Having  done  this,  and  refreshed  himself  by 
rest,  -they  both  issued  forth  from  the  lodge  door.  "  You  see 
yonder  gulf,"  said  the  old  man,  "and  the  wide-stretching 
plain  beyond :  it  is  the  land  of  souls.  You  stand  upon  its 
borders,  and  my  lodge  is  the  gate  of  entrance.  But  you  can 
not  take  your  body  along.  Leave  it  here  with  your  bow  and 


488  BELDEN:  THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

arrows,  your  bundle  aud  your  dog.  You  will  find  them  safe 
upon  your  return."  So  saying,  he  re-entered  ••  the  lodge,  and 
the  freed  traveler  bounded  forward  as  if  his  feet  had  suddenly 
been  endowed  with  the  power  of  wings.  But  all  things  re 
tained  their  natural  colors  and  shapes.  The  woods,  and  leaves, 
and  streams,  and  lakes,  were  only  more  bright  and  comely 
than  he  had  ever  witnessed.  Animals  bounded  across  his  path 
with  a  freedom  and  confidence,  which  seemed  to  tell  him 
that  there  was  no  blood  shed  there.  Birds  of  beautiful  plu 
mage  were  in  the  groves,  and  sported  in  the  waters.  There 
was  but  one  thing  which  he  noticed  as  unusual.  He  noticed 
that  his  passage  was  not  stopped  by  trees  and  other  objects. 
He  appeared  to  walk  directly  through  them:  they  were,  in 
fact,  but  the  images  or  shadows  of  material  forms,  and  he  be 
came  sensible  that  he  was  in  the  land  of  souls. 

When  he  had  traveled  half  a  day's  journey,  through  a  coun 
try  which  was  continually  becoming  more  and  more  attractive, 
he  came  to  the  banks  of  a  broad  lake,  in  the  center  of  which 
was  a  large  and  beautiful  island.  He  found  a  canoe  of  white 
shining  stone  tied  to  the  shore,  and  was  now  sure  that  he  had 
come  to  the  right  path,  for  the  aged  man  had  told  him  of  this. 
Immediately  entering  the  canoe,  and  taking  the  shining  paddles 
in  his  hands,  to  his  joy  and  surprise,  on  turning  round,  he 
beheld  the  object  of  his  search  in  another  canoe,  exactly  the 
counterpart  of  his,  in  every  respect.  It  seemed,  in  fact,  to  be 
the  shadow  of  his  own.  She  had  exactly  imitated  his  motions, 
and  they  were  side  by  side,  and  they  at  once  pushed  out  from 
the  shore  and  began  to  cross  the  lake.  Its  waves  seemed  to  be 
rising,  and,  at  a  distance,  looked  ready  to  swallow  them  up; 
but,  just  as  they  entered  the  whitened  edge,  they  seemed  to  melt 
away,  as  if  they  were  but  the  images  of  waves.  But  no  sooner 


THE  HUNTER'S  DREAM.  489 

was  one  wreath  of  foam  passed,  than  another,  more  threatening 
still,  rose  up.  Thus  they  were  in  perpetual  fear;  which  was 
increased  by  the  clearness  of  the  water,  through  which  they 
could  see  heaps  of  the  bones  of  persons  who  had  perished 
before. 

The  master  of  life  had,  however,  decreed  to  let  them  pass, 
for  the  thoughts  and  acts  of  neither  had  been  bad.  But  they 
saw  many  others  struggling  and  sinking  in  the  waves.  Old 
men  and  young  men,  males  and  females,  of  all  ages  and  ranks, 
were  there ;  some  passed,  and  some  sank.  It  was  only  the  little 
children,  whose  canoes  seemed  to  meet  no  waves.  At  length 
every  difficulty  was  gone,  as  in  a  moment,  and  they  both  leaped 
out  on  the  happy  island.  They  felt  that  the  very  air  was  food. 
It  strengthened  and  nourished  them,  and  they  wandered  together 
over  the  blissful  fields,  where  every  thing  was  formed  to  please 
the  eye  and  ear.  There  were  no  tempests;  there  was  no  ice, 
nor  chilly  winds;  no  one  shivered  for  the  want  of  warm 
clothes;  no  one  suffered  for  hunger;  no  one  mourned  for  the 
dead.  They  saw  no  graves ;  they  heard  of  no  wars.  Animals 
ran  freely  about,  but  there  was  no  blood  spilled  in  hunting 
them :  for  the  air  itself  nourished  them.  Gladly  would  the 
young  warrior  have  remained  there  forever,  but  he  was  obliged 
to  go  back  for  his  body.  He  did  not  see  the  Master  of  Life, 
but  he  heard  his  voice,  as  if  it  were  a  soft  breeze.  "  Go  back," 
said  this  voice,  "to  the  land  from  whence  you  came.  Your 
time  has  not  yet  come.  The  duties  for  which  I  made  you,  and 
which  you  are  to  perform,  are  not  yet  finished.  Return  to  your 
people,  and  accomplish  the  acts  of  a  good  man.  You  will  be 
the  ruler  of  your  tribe  for  many  days.  The  rules  you  will 
observe  will  be  told  you  by  my  messenger  who  keeps  the  gate. 

When  he  surrenders  back  your  body,  he  will  tell  you  what  to 

42 


490  BEIDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIET. 

do.  Listen  to  him,  and  you  shall  afterward  rejoin  the  spirit 
which  you  have  followed,  but  whom  you  must  now  leave  be 
hind.  She  is  accepted,  and  will  be  ever  here,  as,  young  and  as 
happy  as  she  was  when  I  first  called  her  from  the  land  of 
snows."  "When  this  voice  ceased,  the  narrator  awoke.  It  was 
the  fancy  work  of  a  dream,  and  he  was  still  in  the  bitter  land 
of  snows  and  hunger,  death  and  tears. 


JIM   BAKER.  491 


III. 
JIM  BAKER. 

BAKER  was  born  in  Illinois,  and  lived  at  home  until  he 
was  eighteen  years  of  age,  when  he  enlisted  in  the  Amer 
ican  Far  Company,  went  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  re 
mained  there  for  many  years.  He  married  an  Indian  wife,  ac 
cording  to  the  Indian  custom,  from  the  Snake  tribe,  and  lived 
with  the  Indians  several  years,  adopting  their  habits,  ideas,  and 
superstitions.  He  firmly  believed  in  the  efficacy  of  charms, 
and  incantations  of  the  medicine  men.  He  contended  zealously 
that  they  could  cure  diseases,  divine  where  the  enemy  was  to 
be  found,  and  foretell  the  result  of  war  expeditions.  Unfor 
tunately  he  would  occasionally  take  a  glass  or  two  too  much 
whisky,  and,  while  under  its  influence,  would  commit  many  in 
discretions.  When  sober,  Baker  was  a  noble,  generous,  big- 
hearted  man,  as,  indeed,  are  nearly  all  trappers,  hunters,  and 
guides  on  the  border.  He  was  the  friend  and  companion  of 
Kit  Carson,  Jim  Bridger,  and  Jack  Robinson,  and  would 
divide  his  last  crust  with  an  associate  or  stranger. 

u  Jim  Baker, "  as  he  was  familiarly  known  all  along  the 
border,  accompanied  General  Marcy,  in  1857-58,  in  his  expe 
dition  over  the  Rocky  Mountains,  from  Fort  Bridger  to  New 
Mexico,  and  proved  himself  a  most  valuable  assistant,  guide, 
and  interpreter.  Marcy  had  engaged  a  Digger  Ute  Indian  as 


492  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

guide,  and  promised  him  many  presents  as  soon  as  they  should 
reach  New  Mexico.  On  the  first  day  out  the  Indian  pretended 
not  to  believe  he  would  receive  the  promised  presents,  and  iu 
the  evening  announced  his  intention  of  returning  to  Fort 
Bridger.  Marcy  told  the  Indian  he  had  the  presents  with 
him,  but  still  seeming  not  to  be  satisfied,  Baker  advised  the 
general  to  show  him  the  presents.  This  was  done,  and,  know 
ing  their  propensity  to  steal,  Marcy  ordered  the  presents  to  be 
closely  guarded ;  yet,  notwithstanding  every  precaution,  the 
wily  savage  managed,  during  the  night,  to  get  hold  of  the  most 
of  them,  and  then  deserted.  Next  morning,  when  Baker  learned 
of  his  treachery,  he  was  so  enraged  that  he  wished  to  follow 
the  Digger  Ute  and  scalp  him,  but  General  Marcy  restrained 
him. 

During  the  expedition  Marcy  came  upon  a  band  of  Utes  at 
the  western  base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and,  as  he  was 
scarce  of  ponies,  he  tried  to  buy  some,  but,  although  these 
people  subsisted  on  rabbits,  bugs,  and  crickets,  they  could  not 
be  induced  to  part  with  their  ponies  at  any  price.  The  gen 
eral  then  tried  to  hire  one  of  them  as  a  guide  across  the  mount 
ains,  but  in  this  he  also  failed,  when  Baker  came  to  the  rescue. 
He  said  to  the  chief,  "  Come,  show  us  the  way  to  New  Mex 
ico,  "  and  upon  the  chiefs  replying  that  the  snow  was  too  deep 
for  any  human  being  to  attempt  the  passage  of  the  mountains, 
Baker  slapped  his  breast  and  said,  "Do  you  think  we  are  old 
women  ?  I  at  first  took  you  for  a  warrior,  but  I  see  now  you 
are  a  squaw, "  and  the  Indian  becoming  very  much  enraged 
at  this  taunt,  Baker  added:  "Go  home  now,  and  cover  up 
warm,  or  assist  your  squaw  in  taking  care  of  the  babies.  "  The 
Ute  was  beside  himself  with  rage,  but  still  he  pointed  to  the 
mountains,  and  said  :  "You  think  I  do  not  tell  you  the  truth, 


JIM  BAKER.  493 

but  look,  you  can  see  the  white  snow  upon  the  peaks  from  here. 
When  I  crossed  in  the  autumn  the  leaves  were  beginning  to 
fall,  and  the  snow  was  then  a  foot  deep  in  the  passes,  but  it  is 
now  above  my  middle,  and  I  could  not  possibly  wade  through." 
Nevertheless,  General  Marcy  undertook  the  passage  of  the 
mountains,  and,  after  losing  nearly  all  his  animals,  and  endur 
ing  months  of  suffering  and  privation,  he  forced  his  way  to 
Fort  Massachusetts,  and  accomplished  what  General  Fremont 
had  failed  to  do.  This  was  really  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
marches  on  record,  and  entitles  its  conductor  to  lasting  fame. 
In  saying  that  Baker,  Tyburn,  and  Mariano  were  invaluable, 
and  probably  saved  the  expedition,  I  am  only  repeating  what 
General  Marcy  has  often  himself  said  in  both  public  and 
private. 

When  General  Marcy  first  met  "Jim, "  he  inquired  if  he 
had  traveled  much  in  the  States  before  coming  out  into  the 
mountains,  to  which  he  replied :  "  Right  smart,  Cap.  "  Marcy 
asked : 

"  Where  have  you  been  ?  " 

"To  Chicago,"  was, the  reply. 

"  Have  you  ever  been  to  New  York  ?  " 

"  No,  sir." 

"To  New  Orleans?" 

'*  No,  Cap,  I  has  n't  been  to  Horleans,  but  111  tell  you  whar 
I  have  been.  I've  traveled  mighty  nigh  all  over  four  counties 
in  UlinoiSj "  and  this,  it  appeared,  was  the  extent  of  his  wan 
derings  before  leaving  home. 

When  sober,  Baker  was  a  mild  and  sensible  man,  but  when 
in  liquor  he  was  violent,  boisterous,  and  dangerous.  He  ap 
peared  to  be  very  fond  of  his  squaw  and  children,  but  on  one 
occasion,  coming  into  his  house  and  finding  a  friend  there,  he 


494  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 


pretended  to  get  jealous,  and  abused  his  wife.  His  friend, 
ing  he  had  a  drop  too  much  liquor,  tried  to  appease  him  and 
convince  him  of  the  injustice  of  his  suspicions,  but  "  Jim " 
only  became  more  indignant  and  furious,  and,  seizing  a  hunt 
ing-knife,  swore  he  would  cut  off  one  of  her  ears,  and  it  was 
with  the  greatest  difficulty  his  friend  could  prevent  him  from 
doing  so.  This  was  one  of  the  Indian  methods  of  punishing  a 
truant  spouse,  and  it  seemed  to  Jim  the  most  appropriate  for 
that  occasion. 

When  Marcy's  expedition  reached  New  Mexico,  Baker  con 
cluded  it  would  be  a  good  opportunity  to  cast  aside  his  leg 
gings,  moccasins,  and  other  mountain  gear,  and  adopt  the  ha 
biliments  of  civilization.  He  accordingly  bought  a  full  outfit  of 
citizens  clothing,  and  when  the  general  met  him  soon  after 
ward,  so  great  was  the  change  that  he  hardly  knew  him. 
"  Why, "  said  Marcy,  "  Jim,  you  are  so  metamorphosed  I 
hardly  knew  you. " 

"  I  do  n't  know  what  you  call  it, "  replied  Baker,  "  but  con 
found  these  store  clothes,  they  choke  my  feet  like  . "  It 

was  the  first  time  in  twenty  years  Jim  had  worn  any  thing 
but  moccasins,  and  his  feet  were  not  prepared  for  the  torture 
of  breaking  in  new  boots.  In  a  little  while  he  was  seen  walk 
ing  along  in  his  bare  feet,  and  carrying  his  boots  in  his  hand, 
and  when  asked  about  it,  he  said,  "  I  specks  these  store  clothes 
makes  me  look  kind  o'  'spectable,  but  they  hurt,  and  I  feel 
like  a  durned  fool. "  An  hour  afterward  he  came  out  in  his 
mountain  rig  and  moccasins,  and  said  he  would  never  again 
"  attempt  to  wear  store  clothes,  or  act  the  gentleman.  " 

Baker  had  been  in  at  the  death  of  many  a  grizzly  bear,  and 
related  many  stories  of  his  terrible  encounters  with  these  mon 
sters  of  the  mountains,  but  he  had  one  great  bear  fight  that  he 


JIM   BAKER.  497 

\ 

loved  most  to  recount.  He  and  his  friend  Bridger  were  one  day- 
setting  traps  on  the  head  waters  of  Grand  River,  when  they 
came  suddenly  upon  two  young  grizzly  bears,  about  the  size  of 
well -grown  dogs.  Baker  remarked  that  if  they  could  pitch  in 
and  scalp  the  varmints  with  their  knives,  it  would  be  an  ex 
ploit  to  boast  of.  They  accordingly  laid  aside  their  rifles  and 
went  at  them,  Bridger  attacking  one,  and  his  companion  the 
other.  He  says  the  bears  immediately  raised  on  their  hind 
feet,  and,  squatting  upon  their  haunches,  were  ready  for  battle. 
He  ran  around,  endeavoring  to  get  an  opportunity  to  give  a 
blow  from  behind  with  his  long  sharp  knife,  but  the  young 
brute  was  too  quick  for  him,  and  turned,  as  he  passed  around, 
so  as  always  to  confront  him  face  to  face.  He  knew,  if  he 
came  within  reach  of  him,  though  young,  he  could  strike  ter 
rible  blows  and  inflict  severe  wounds  with  his  claws ;  moreover, 
he  felt  great  apprehensions  that  the  piteous  howls  of  the  cub 
would  bring  the  old  dam  to  its  rescue,  when  the  chances  of  es 
cape  from  death  would  be  small.  Anxious  to  terminate  the 
contest  as  soon  as  possible,  he  made  several  passes  at  the  bear, 
who  warded  off  his  strokes  with  the  skill  of  a  pugilist.  Several 
of  the  lunges  cut  the  cub's  paws4  and  the  pain  greatly  enraged 
him.  At  length,  exasperated,  the  grizzly  took  the  offensive, 
and  sprung  at  his  antagonist.  Baker  grappled  with  him, 
and,  after  a  most  terrible  conflict,  in  which  his  arms  and  legs 
were  torn  and  lacerated  nearly  to  the  bone,  the  mountaineer 
succeeded  in  giving  the  animal  a  death  wound. 

Meanwhile  Bridger  was  fighting  a  terrible  battle  with  his 
bear,  and  had  become  greatly  exhausted,  and  the  odds  were 
turning  decidedly  against  him,  when  he  entreated  his  companion 
to  come  to  his  relief,  and,  although  Jim  said  he  did  not  like  to 

"  meddle  with  another  man's  bar  fite,"  he  finally  went  in,  when, 

43 


498  BELDEN:   THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

to  his  surprise,  Bridger  immediately  retired  from  the  contest, 
and  left  him  to  fight  it  out  alone.  In  vain  Baker  begged  him 
to  help  him  by  shooting  or  stabbing  the  bear,  but  Bridger  only 
replied,  "  Go  ahead,  Jim ;  you  kin  kill  and  skulp  him  your 
self."  After  a  severe  struggle,  Jim  was  again  victorious,  and, 
when  he  demanded  an  explanation  of  his  conduct,  Bridger  re 
plied,  "  Yer  tarnal  fool,  Jim,  yer  got  me  into  yer  scrape,  and  1 
got  meself  out.  Yer  wanted  ter  kill  and  skulp  bars  with 
butcher-knives,  and  I  made  up  my  mind  I'd  jest  shoot  mine; 
so  as  the  bar  fite  were  yours,  I  thort  I  would  'nt  interfere/' 

Baker  reflected  a  moment,  and  then  responded,  "  Dod  rot  it, 
Jim,  if  yer  aint  rite,  and  I  '11  never  fite  nary  Another  grizzly 
without  I  have  a  good  shootin'  iron  in  my  paws." 

Like  most  mountaineers,  Baker  was  liberal  to  a  fault,  and 
consequently  was  very  improvident.  He  had  made  a  great  deal 
of  money  in  trading  and  trapping,  but,  at  the  annual  rendez 
vous  of  traders  he  would  spend  the  earnings  of  a  whole  season 
in  a  few  days.  He  had  been  particularly  lucky  one  year,  and 
laid  up  the  snug  sum  of  nine  thousand  dollars,  when  he  made 
up  his  mind  he  would  abandon  his  mountain  life,  return  to  the 
States,  purchase  a  farm,  and  settle  down.  He  accordingly  made 
his  preparations  to  start,  and  was  on  the  point  of  departure, 
when  he  concluded  to  have  a  little  blow  out  with  some  friends, 
whom  he  never  expected  to  see  again.  They  got  some  grog,  and 
finally  wandered  into  a  monte-bank,  which  had  been  opened  in 
the  camp.  He  was  easily  persuaded  to  take  some  more  drinks 
and  try  his  luck,  and  the  result  was,  that  the  next  morning 
Baker  found  himself  without  a  cent.  To  a  friend  whom  he  met 
soon  afterward,  he  said,  "  Guess  I  won't  buy  a  farm  this  year," 
and  next  day  returned  to  his  hunting-grounds. 

After  a  time  Baker  left  the  Indians,  and  established  a  little 


JIM  BAKER.  499 

store  on  the  old  Mormon  trail,  at  the  crossing  of  Green  River. 
Here  for  some  years  he  did  a  fair  business  in  trading  with  In 
dians  and  trafficking  »with  passing  emigrants,  but  one  day  a 
Frenchman  appeared  and  set  up  a  rival  establishment,  which 
greatly  reduced  Baker's  profits.  This  terribly  enraged  the  old 
frontiersman,  who  claimed  the  exclusive  "  rite  to  trade  on  them 
crossin',"  and  he  posted  a  "notis"  for  the  Frenchman  "tew 
quit."  The  Frenchman,  however,  went  on  with  his  business, 
and  soon  all  intercourse  of  a  friendly  nature  ceased  between  the 
neighbors.  One  day  Baker  declared  war,  and  sent  a  challenge 
to  the  Frenchman,  which  was  promptly  accepted.  They  both 
retired  to  their  cabins,  which  were  facing  each  other,  and 
prepared  for  battle.  Baker  had  no  liquor,  and  the  polite 
Frenchman  sent  over  his  antagonist  a  quart.  After  liquoring 
up,  they  appeared  at  the  doors  of  their  cabins  and  fired  with 
revolvers.  Between  each  round  they  would  go  in  and  drink, 
and  soon  got  so  drunk  and  unsteady  there  was  little  danger  of 
their  hitting  each  other.  This  peculiar  duel  had  lasted  for  sev 
eral  hours,  when  Baker's  old  friend  Marcy  happened  by,  return 
ing  from  Utah  to  the  States.  He  asked  Baker  what  was  up, 
and  he  replied,  "Yer  see,  Cap,  that  thar  yaller-bellied,  toad- 
eatin'  parly-voo  over  thar  come  here  to  trade  agin  me,  and  we 
have  had  a  bit  of  a  skrimmage  to-day." 

Marcy  lectured  him  on  the  sin  of  monopoly,  but  Baker  only 
replied,  "  This  yer  's  my  crossing  I  reckon,  Cap,  and  I  '11  raise 
the  har  o'  that  sneakin'  pole-cat  yet.  I  '11  skulp  him,  Cap,  if 
he  dooi't  leave  these  diggin's,  darned  if  I  don't." 

He  then  gave  notice  to  Marcy  to  stand  aside,  for  he  was 
going  to  blaze  away,  but  Marcy  stepped  up  to  Baker,  and  took 
his  pistol  away,  telling  him  he  was  greatly  astonished  to  see  a 
man  of  his  sense  make  such  a  fool  of  himself.  Baker  submit- 


500  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

t^d  quietly,  but  upbraided  Marcy,  saying  he  wished  to  disgrace 
him  by  making  him  take  insults  from  a  cowardly,  frog-eating 
Frenchman. 

Next  morning,  however,  he  called  on  Marcy,  and  apologized 
for  what  had  taken  place  the  day  before,  said  he  was  drunk, 
and  when  he  allowed  himself  to  drink  whisky  he  had  "nary 
sense."  He  also  said  he  would  leave  the  country,  and  the 
"  cussed  toad-eater  might  keep  the  durned  old  crossin." 

Baker  is  still  living  in  Colorado,  but  has  left  the  mountains, 
and,  being  very  old,  is  waiting  to  take  the  long  journey  whence 
no  mortal  has  yet  returned. 


THE  MAGIC  CIRCLE.  501 


IV. 

THE   MAGIC   CIRCLE    ON   THE    PRAIRIE. 

A  YOUNG  hunter,  following  the  trail  of  a  deer  on  the 
prairie,  suddenly  came  upon  a  circular  path  trodden 
smooth  by  long  use.  It  gave  evidence  of  recent  footsteps, 
made  by  dainty  feet,  but  nowhere  could  he  discover  a  trail 
leading  to  or  from  it.  This  puzzled  him  not  a  little,  and  he 
resolved  to  ferret  out  the  mystery.  Accordingly  he  concealed 
himself  in  the  tall  prairie  grass  near  by,  and  patiently  awaited 
the  coming  of  the  being  or  beings  who  had  trodden  the  path 
so  smoothly,  for  he  knew  this  could  have  been  done  only  by 
long-continued  and  frequent  use.  After  a  short  time  his  vigil 
was  broken  by  music,  very  faint  at  first,  but  exceeding  sweet, 
which  seemed  to  descend  out  of  the  heavens.  Guided  by  the 
melody,  his  keen  eye  discovered  a  speck  far  up  in  the  sky. 
Soon  the  speck  grew  larger,  and  the  music  plainer  and  sweeter 
still,  and  it  was  evident  that  the  bird-like  speck  and  the  music 
were  approaching  the  earth  together.  Never  for  a  moment  did 
the  young  hunter  take  his  eye  off  the  object  that  seemed  com 
ing  right  down  upon  him,  and  soon  he  discovered  it  was  a  very 
large  basket,  but,  as  it  was  made  of  ozier,  very  light.  But  he 
forgot  the  basket  when  he  saw  its  wonderful  burden.  Twelve 
charming  maidens  sat  upon  cushions  in  the  basket,  and  each 
had  a  little  drum  which  she  beat  with  the  grace  of  an  angel. 
30 


502  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 

Lower  and  lower  came  this  magic  car,  with  its  precious  freight, 
until  it  rested  exactly  in  the  center  of  the  ring  formed  by  the 
mysterious  path.  Scarcely  had  it  touched  the  ground,  when 
the  twelve  maidens  sprang  out  and  began  to  dance  around  the 
circle,  and  to  strike  a  shining  ball  from  one  to  another. 

The  young  hunter  had  seen  many  a  gay  dance  among  all 
the  tribes  of  the  prairie,  but  never  had  he  seen  any  thing  to 
compare  with  this.  The  music  had  at  first  delighted  him,  but 
now  the  matchless  beauty  and  charming  grace  of  the  maidens 
made  him  forget  all  the  world  beside.  All  of  them  charmed 
him,  but  one,  the  youngest  and  loveliest,  completely  entranced 
him,  and  he  resolved  to  seize  and  carry  her  home  at  any  risk. 
Slowly  and  quietly  he  crept  toward  the  circle,  and  succeeded 
in  getting  entirely  up  to  it  without  making  the  least  noise,  or 
in  any  way  attracting  attention.  Then,  when  his  idol  ap 
proached  the  side  where  he  lay  hid,  he  attempted,  by  a  sudden 
spring,  to  capture  her.  But  no  sooner  did  the  maidens  see 
him,  than  they  all  sprang  nimbly  into  the  basket,  and  were 
sped,  with  the  quickness  of  thought,  back  to  the  skies  and  out 
of  sight. 

Poor  Algon,  the  hunter,  was  completely  foiled.  He  stood 
gazing  upward  after  his  new  love  till  the  music  of  the  singing 
maidens  faded  from  his  ear  and  the  car  vanished  from  his  sight. 
Then  he  who  an  hour  before  was  the  bold  hunter,  brave,  and 
fancy  free,  began  to  bewail  his  fate.  "  She  is  gone,  forever 
gone,  and  I  shall  see  her  no  more ! "  he  said,  and  sadly  turned 
away.  He  hunted  no  more,  but  went  home  to  his  lodge.  All 
night  he  thought  of  this  new  wonder,  and  he  determined  to  go 
back  to  the  prairie  next  day,  and  once  more  try  to  win  the  fair 
maiden,  the  youngest  of  the  twelve.  Warned  by  his  former 
failure,  he  did  not  attempt  to  seize  her  openly,  but,  by  his  magic 


THE  MAGIC  CIEOLE.  503 

power,  changed  himself  into  an  opossum.  He  did  not  wait 
long  before  he  heard  again  the  sweet  music,  and  saw  the  car 
descend  into  the  center  of  the  ring.  Again  the  maidens  com 
menced  the  same  gay  dance  and  play.  They  seemed  even  more 
beautiful  than  the  day  before,  and  she,  the  youngest,  was  the 
perfection  of  grace.  Slowly  and  cautiously  the  opossum  crept 
toward  the  ring,  but  even  this  disguise  could  not  deceive  the 
wary  maidens.  The  instant  they  saw  him  they  sprang  into  the 
basket  and  rose  in  the  air.  The  car  stopped  when  a  little  way 
from  the  earth,  however,  and  one  of  the  older  maidens  spoke. 
"  Perhaps/'  said  she,  "  it  is  come  to  show  us  how  the  game  is 
played  by  mortals ; "  but  the  youngest  replied,  "  Oh  no !  quick  ! 
let  us  ascend,"  and,  all  joining  in  a  heavenly  chant,  they  rose 
out  of  sight. 

Algon  returned  to  his  lodge  again,  sadder  and  more  dejected 
than  ever,  but  still  resolved  not  to  give  up  his  new-found 
treasure.  The  night  seemed  an  eternity  to  him,  and  early  in 
the  morning  he  set  out  over  the  prairie  again,  his  head  full  of 
expedients  to  decoy  and  capture  the  cause  of  all  his  rapture 
and  of  all  his  uneasiness.  Directly  in  his  path  lay  an  old  hol 
low  stump,  in  which  a  number  of  mice  had  made  their  nest. 
Surely,  thought  he,  these  diminutive  forms  can  not  create  alarm, 
I  will  be  one  of  them.  So,  moving  the  stump  as  near  the  circle 
as  he  dared,  he  became  a.  little,  harmless  mouse,  and  mingled 
with  the  rest  in  the  old  stump.  He  had  not  been  long  in  his 
new  character,  when  the  car  descended  and  the  sports  began. 
"But  see!"  cried  the  youngest  sister,  "that  stump  was  not 
there  yesterday,"  and  she  ran,  affrighted,  to  the  car.  The  others 
only  smiled,  and,  gathering  around  the  stump  to  show  her  there 
was  no  danger,  began  to  strike  it  in  jest,  when  the  mice  all  ran 
out  and  Algon  among  them.  The  sisters  killed  them  all  but 


504'  BELDEX:    THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 

one,  which  the  youngest  pursued  out  into  the  prairie,  where 
she  was  no  longer  protected  by  the  charm  of  the  circle.  Just 
as  she  raised  her  stick  to  kill  the  mouse,  it  changed  to  a  brave 
hunter  before  her  eyes,  and  she  was  clasped  in  the  arms  of 
Algon.  The  other  sisters  all  sprang  into  the  ozier  basket,  and 
were  drawn  up  to  the  skies,  but  the  youngest  was  carried,  an 
unwilling  captive,  to  the  hunter's  lodge. 

The  young  hunter  exhausted  all  his  skill  and  invention  to 
win  the  affections  of  his  fairy  bride.  He  wiped  the  tears  from 
her  eyes,  told  in  pictured  words  his  adventures  in  the  chase, 
painted  all  the  charms  of  life  on  the  earth,  and  told  his  never- 
dying  love.  He  was  incessant  in  his  attentions,  and  picked  out 
the  smoothest  path  as  he  led  her  toward  his  home.  How  his 
heart  beat  with  joy  and  love  as  she  entered  his  lodge !  From 
that  moment  he  was  the  happiest  of  men.  "Winter  and  sum 
mer  quickly  sped  away,  and  another  joy  came.  A  little  boy, 
pledge  of  their  love,  was  added  to  the  lodge-circle.  The  nov 
elty  of  the  scenes  at  first  amused  the  young  bride,  and  the  lov 
ing  devotion  of  Algon  made  her  content  to  live  on  earth,  but 
by  and  by  she  began  to  pine  to  see  her  sisters  once  more,  and 
to  visit  her  father — for  she  was  the  daughter  of  one  of  the 
stars.  But  she  was  obliged  to  hide  these  feelings  from  her 
husband,  and  to  appear  cheerful  and  contented  before  him,  for 
she  knew  he  would  thwart  any  attempt  she  might  make  to 
leave  the  earth.  She  remembered  the  charm  that  would  carry 
her  up,  and  secretly  made  a  wicker  basket,  large  enough  to  hold 
herself  and  her  son,  and  kept  it  hid  away.  Now  she  collected 
all  the  rare  and  beautiful  things  of  earth  that  she  thought  would 
please  her  father,  together  with  the  most  dainty  kinds  of  food. 
At  last  all  was  ready,  and  she  only  awaited  an  opportunity  to 
escape.  Taking  her  child  and  her  treasures,  with  the  basket, 


THE  MAGIC  CIRCLE.  505 

one  day  while  Algon  was  absent  in  the  chase,  she  set  out  across 
the  prairie  to  the  magic  circle.  Taking  her  little  son  in  her 
arms,  she  sat  down  in  the  basket  and  commenced  her  song. 
The  charm  was  still  potent,  and  as  her  song  rose  on  the  air  the 
basket  began  to  ascend. 

Algon  was  hunting  on  the  prairie,  and,  as  the  song  was  borne 
by  the  winds,  it  struck  his  ear  with  ineffable  sweetness.  In  a 
moment  he  recognized  the  voice,  and,  in  an  agony  of  surprise, 
realized  that  his  wife  and  son,  all  that  he  cared  for  on  earth, 
were  being  wafted  to  the  skies.  Wild  with  suspense,  he  ran 
with  the  swiftness  of  the  deer  toward  the  fatal  spot,  but,  before 
he  could  reach  the  ring,  the  basket,  with  its  precious  burden, 
was  high  in  the  air.  Loudly  and  anxiously  he  cried  to  his 
dear  ones  to  come  back,  but  all  of  no  avail.  Higher,  higher 
went  the  basket,  the  happy  song  of  his  wife,  dirge  of  all  his 
hopes,  grew  fainter  and  fainter,  and  finally  died  away.  He 
watched  the  receding  speck,  straining  his  eyes  until  it  entirely 
vanished ;  then,  gazing  up  into  heaven  where  his  loved  ones 
had  gone,  long  after  they  had  disappeared,  he  stood  alone  on 
the  prairie,  alone  in  the  world.  Then  he  bowed  his  proud 
head  in  agony  to  the  ground  and  wept  like  a  child. 

A  long,  dreary  winter  and  a  cheerless  summer  passed,  and 
still  Algon  bewailed  his  loss.  The  chase  had  lost  its  charm  to 
him  now,  and  he  loathed  his  food  since  the  loving  hands  that 
were  wont  to  prepare  it  were  absent.  He  mourned  the  loss  of 
his  beautiful  wife,  but  his  son,  who  was  all  his  hope  and  who 
was  to  perpetuate  his  race,  was  still  a  greater  loss.  His  smile 
was  gone,  and  he  who  had  been  the  life  of  the  village  was  now 
sad  and  gloomy. 

Meanwhile  his  wife  had  reached  her  starry  home,  and  almost 
forgot,  in  the  renewed  joys  and  blissful  employments  of  her  child- 

44 


506  BELDEN:  THE  WHITE  CHIEF. 

hood's  home,  that  she  had  left  a  husband  on  the  earth.  Bui 
her  son,  true  to  his  race,  longed  to  visit  the  place  of  his  birth, 
and  to  see  his  father,  whom  he  could  just  remember  as  the 
proud  hunter.  The  little  fellow's  entreaties  so  won  the  heart 
of  his  grandfather  that,  calling  his  daughter  to  him  one  day, 
"  Go,  my  child,"  he  said,  "  take  your  son  down  to  his  father, 
and  ask  him  to  come  up  and  live  with  us,  and  tell  him  to 
bring  a  specimen  of  every  bird  and  animal  he  kills  in  the 
chase." 

So  she  took  the  boy  and  returned  to  earth.  Algon,  who 
ever  hovered  near  the  enchanted  spot,  heard  her  voice,  singing 
as  she  had  sung  the  first  time  he  saw  her.  How  slow  the  de 
scent  of  the  car  seemed  to  him !  His  heart  beat  with  impa 
tience  and  hope  as  he  saw  the  forms  of  his  wife  and  child,  and 
soon  he  clasped  them  in  his  arms,  and  was  happy  once  more. 
He  heard  the  message  from  the  star,  and  accepted  the  invita 
tion  with  alacrity.  Now  he  began  to  hunt  with  the  utmost 
activity,  that  he  might  collect  the  presents  for  the  grandfather 
of  his  son.  Whole  nights  as  well  as  days  he  spent  on  the 
prairie,  searching  for  every  curious  and  beautiful  bird  and  use 
ful  animal.  He  only  kept  a  foot,  tail,  or  wing  of  each,  and 
when  he  had  collected  specimens  of  all  that  was  beautiful  or 
useful  in  the  chase,  he  took  them  with  his  wife  and  child,  and 
was  wafted  up  in  the  wicker-basket,  to  the  music  of  his  wife's 
voice. 

Great  joy  was  shown  when  they  arrived  on  the  starry  plains. 
The  star-chief  summoned  all  his  people  to  a  great  feast,  and, 
when  they  had  assembled,  he  proclaimed  aloud  that  each  one 
of  the  guests  might  take  of  the  earthly  gifts  whatever  he  liked 
best.  Immediately  a  very  strange  scene  of  confusion  com 
menced.  One  chose  a  foot,  another  a  wing,  another  a  tail, 


THE   MAGIC   CIRCLE.  507 

and  another  a  claw,  until  all  the  guests  had  chosen  gifts.  Then 
those  who  had  chosen  a  tail  or  a  foot  became  animals  and  ran 
off;  the  others  chose  a  wing  or  a  claw,  and  became  birds  and 
flew  away.  Algon  chose  a  white  hawk's  feather,  which  was 
his  token.  His  wife  and  son  followed  his  example,  and  all 
three  became  white  hawks,  and  flew  down  to  earth  and  mingled 
with  the  feathered  tribes.  From  that  day  the  white  hawk  be 
came  the  boldest  of  birds. 


508  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE   CHIEF. 


V. 

STRIKING   THE    POST. 

WHOEVER  has  observed  the.. varying  phases  of  Indian 
society,  as  it  exists  both  in  the  forests  and  in  the  plains, 
must  have  become  sensible  that  the  feature  of  military  glory 
constitutes  the  prime  object  of  savage  attainment.  It  is  not, 
indeed,  such  glory  as  is  gained  among  civilized  nations  at  the 
cannon's  mouth,  or  in  charging  the  enemy  in  well-drilled  squad 
rons,  but  it  is  none  the  less  gratifying  to  the  savage  hero. 
There  are  no  walled  towns  to  batter  down  or  moats  to  scale, 
but  the  object  to  be  attained  is  the  same,  viz.,  that  of  renown. 
It  is  to  prove  that  one  set  of  men  are  braver  or  stronger  than 
another.  The  civilized  warrior  receives  a  badge  of  honor,  and 
the  Indian  is  content  to  wear  an  eagle's  feather  in  his  hair, 
which  marks  him  as  a  brave  man  to  all  his  tribe.  His  step  is 
proud,  and  his  satisfaction  for  the  honor  as  great  as  that  of  any 
civilized  warrior. 

One  of  the  principal  means  of  cultivating  a  heroic  spirit  in 
the  Indian  is  the  public  assemblage  for  reciting  deeds  of  bravery 
done  in  the  tribe.  For  this  purpose  a  post  is  erected  on  some 
eligible  spot  where  the  whole  village  can  observe  the  ceremony. 
This  post  is  painted  red,  the  usual  symbolic  color  of  war. 
Music  is  provided  by  the  Indian  drum  and  rattles,  and  by 
having  present  a  corps  of  singers.  After  a  few  preliminary 


.'lil 'Hi 


STRIKING   THE   POST.  511 

flourishes,  a  sharp  yell  gives  notice  that  one  of  the  warriors 
present  is  about  to  recite  his  exploits.  The  music  immediately 
ceases,  and  he  receives  the  most  profound  attention  of  the  as 
semblage.  Dressed  out  in  his  finest  robes,  and  wearing  all  his 
marks  of  war  and  honor,  the  warrior  steps  forward  and,  with 
his  club  or  lance,  strikes  the  painted  post.  He  then  recites, 
with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  an  orator,  his  deeds,  accompanying 
every  word  with  appropriate  gestures  and  actions,  and  when  he 
has  finished  his  recital  all  the  warriors  join  in  yells  of  victory 
and  defiance.  The  music  then  recommences,  and  is  continued 
until  some  other  warrior  signifies  his  willingness  to  tell  of  his 
deeds.  Hours  on  hours  are  thus  employed,  and  the  music  and 
singing  is  continued  until  all  who  wish  have  spoken.  Striking 
the  post  is  the  forest  school  in  which  the  young  boys  learn 
their  first  lesson  of  war.  They  are  always  seen  in  large  crowds 
at  the  ceremonies,  eagerly  drinking  in  the  words  of  the  speak 
ers,  and  their  stories  fill  their  youthful  bosoms  with  an  ambi 
tion  that  is  never  satisfied  till  they  have  torn  the  bloody  scalp 
from  the  head  of  an  enemy. 


512  BELDEN:   THE   WHITE  CHIEF. 


SUPPLEMENT. 


FORT  STEELE,  WYOMING  TERRITORY,  July  4,  1870. 
MR.  C.  F.  VENT,  Publishers,  Cincinnati,  0. — 

Dear  Sir :  The  Belden  MSS.  have  abruptly  terminated.  Mr.  Belden  has 
quit  the  army  and  returned  to  the  wild  life  of  a  mountaineer.  I  doubt  if  I 
shall  be  able  to  secure  from  him  any  more  manuscript  for  several  months, 
and  I  have  determined  not  to  wait,  but  forward  you  what  I  have  for  pub 
lication.  In  March  last  I  received  the  following  note  from  Belden,  which 
will  explain  itself: 

OLD  FORT  KEARNEY,  NEB.,  March  1,  1870. 

Dear  General:  Yesterday,  on  my  return  from  the  Republican  River,  I 
received  your  two  letters,  which  had  been  forwarded  to  me  from  Wind 
River.  I  am  out  of  the  army,  and  once  more  a  free  man.  My  ponies  are 
packed,  and  I  am  about  to  be  off  for  the  trapping  and  hunting-grounds. 
For  the  present,  pen-writing  with  me  is  over.  If  you  can  make  a  book 
out  of  the  diaries  and  manuscripts  I  have  sent  you,  do  so,  but  I  shall 
hardly  be  able  to  add  any  thing  to  them.  Good-by,  and  ho  for  the  mount 
ains  !  Yours  truly,  GEO.  P.  BELDEN. 

Later  I  heard  from  Mr.  Belden,  who  was  trapping  alone  on  the  Repub 
lican,  in  the  country  of  the  hostile  Indians ;  and  in  May  last  an  officer  who 
visited  my  camp  told  me  he  saw,  on  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad,  at  Kearney 
station,  a  wild  white  man  dressed  in  buckskin,  with  an  eagle's  feather 
braided  in  his  hair  and  a  huge  rifle  on  his  shoulder.  This  was  Belden, 
who  had  come  to  get  ammunition  and  sell  his  pelts.  A  few  days  afterward 
I  heard  of  a  white  man  being  on  Medicine  Creek,  whom  the  Indians  had 
repeatedly  attacked  and  in  vain  attempted  to  drive  away.  Two  or  three 
rude  lines  scrawled  on  the  fly-leaf  of  a  book,  and  sent  by  the  hands  of  a 
hunter,  informed  me  who  this  was,  and  they  ran  thus : 


SUPPLEMENT.  513 

I  am  trapping  and  hunting  on  the  Medicine,  and  while  over  at  the  Re 
publican  and  Loup  Fork  met  with  a  couple  of  splendid  adventures.  All 
safe  and  sound  yet,  and  my  hair  in  the  proper  place. 

Yours,  BELDEN. 

In  sending  you  Mr.  Belden's  life,  I  have  thought  it  best  to  re-write  the 
whole  of  it,  but  have  only  made  such  changes  as  would  enable  me  to  place 
it  in  a  connected  form,  and  in  most  cases  have  allowed  the  manuscript  to 
retain  the  exact  words  of  the  adventurous  chief,  soldier,  hunter,  trapper, 
and  guide. 

It  is  only  fair  to  Mr.  Belden  to  say  that  his  career  has  been  more  varied 
and  remarkable  than  that  of  any  pale-face  west  of  the  Missouri ;  and  in 
taking  leave  of  him  I  can  not  refrain  from  expressing  the  wish,  in  which  I 
am  sure  all  the  readers  of  his  narrative  will  join  me,  that  he  may  long  live 
to  pursue  the  wild  life  he  seems  to  enjoy  so  much. 

Yours  truly,  JAMES  S.  BRISBIN,  U.  S.  Army. 

45 


